A/N: Hello! I hope you enjoy this update. I'm not too sure about it to be frank. I feel like I'm rushing her development, though I guess it makes sense to to prepare for the main storyline. Ah, who knows.

Without further adieu:

Chapter 13

"Hey. Charlie," the boy whispered, leaning over his desk and into her airspace. A small, mercurial grin curled the corners of his lips.

Charlie's eyebrow ticked. She brushed a stray curl of hair out of her face to make way for the stern stare she'd give him. "What?" she asked. "You're too close."

Jeremy Anderson sighed and rolled his eyes as he leaned back the barest amount. Satisfied, Charlie turned her gaze to the professor at the front of the room. They were discussing necrotizing fasciitis, and even though the pictures on the Powerpoint were disgusting, it was still an interesting lecture. She couldn't keep the grimace from her face as she made a not-so-great sketch of one of the wounds in her notebook. She never needed to take notes, but writing (or doodling) always helped to keep her engaged.

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to go study in the library later," Jeremy said crossly. He peered at her out of the corner of his eye.

"You know I don't need to study," Charlie retorted, "so why ask?"

He took a big breath in through his nose, and didn't reply. His body leaned in the other direction.

Charlie shaded the crude picture she'd drawn. Necrotizing faciitis turned the skin black with decay, after all.

She sat alone again.

Charlie's forehead crinkled as she stared down at the book. It was... boring, she had to admit. She really didn't care much for public speaking, though apparently it was a required course here and so she'd had to shuck out $70 just for this piece of work.

One didn't need public speaking when one was going to become a doctor. Tact, maybe, but she would never be talking to a crowd of people unless she attended some sort of symposium. And she hated those.

Her eyes flitted up from the printed words to scan the room around her. The library at her school was three stories, and she was on the top level- the quietest, or so it was rumored. People gathered in groups here all the time, though, and so discussions broke out frequently. A mild irritant for those looking for some peace and quiet, like her.

Before she could turn back to her book, she noticed Jeremy scaling the stairs. He was alone as well, which was an anomaly- unlike her, he actually invested his time in friends, in a social life. She suspected that was why he was trying to 'crack her shell'. 'Let him try,' she thought, turning her page and pretending she hadn't seen him. He'd been trying for the better part of the semester.

She caught the inside of her cheek with her teeth as she heard his footsteps drawing closer to her. It wasn't that she didn't like him as a person- in fact, he seemed pretty nice. But the idea of someone showing interest in her, any at all, was terrifying. And she wasn't interested, not one bit. She had her priorities, and none of them involved romance. Or friendship. Whichever- she couldn't tell what he was after anymore.

"Charlie," he stage-whispered. She coulid see the toes of his shoes in her periphery.

The redhead sighed, glancing up at him. "Yes?"

"I thought you said you didn't need to study?" he asked. It probably wasn't a real question. His dark brown eyes were glinting with mirth.

"I don't. This is new." She held the book up for inspection.

"Well, then I'll read with you." He dropped to his knees, and began rifling through his book bag for what she presumed to be his own textbook.

Charlie grit her teeth. "Jeremy, look, I appreciate you trying to be my friend and all, but-"

He stopped, and his head snapped up to look at her. "But what? You're too busy?" An eyebrow raise expressed his disbelief. "You do nothing but schoolwork. It's not a crime to have fun once in a while."

Her face flushed, embarrassed and a little peeved. "Having friends isn't fun, it's distracting." Such as he was doing right now.

She saw his jaw jump as his hands fisted the fabric of his backpack. "You know," he bit out, "despite the fact that I have friends, I still have a high GPA. And I guarantee that I'm a lot happier than you." Then he was walking away, zipping the backpack up again as he went as though he couldn't bear to waste any more time by her side.

Charlie's nails dug into the soft cover of the book in her hands. Her teeth dug into her cheek hard enough to pull blood. He'd never looked at her like that before. Guilt curled her stomach uncomfortably.

Happier, he'd said.

It had taken her a year to forget about Jeremy.

Well. She could never really forget anything, but she... she moved on. He didn't try to talk to her after that day, didn't bother sitting next to her again, and for a long while she supposed it was for the better.

She was alone again, just as she always was, and she didn't really think anything was wrong with that. Except... something was.

She knew something was. It didn't take an eidetic memory to figure out that she wasn't feeling the way she was supposed to. For her entire life, she had been convinced it was just because she was different. Strange, somehow, and so things weren't the same for her as they were for other people. It was lonely on her pedestal.

Yet for that whole year his words rang in her head, clear as a bell. That he was happier than her. The questions she asked herself never ceased. What about other people made him happier than being alone? Did she feel lonely? Would she be happier if she had friends around her?

She thought about it endlessly. Even as she took the long way around campus to avoid running into people she shared classes with, and emailed when she absolutely had to talk to them, she wondered. Why was he so happy surrounding himself with other people?

And then she'd forgotten about it, about him. No, it wasn't that. It wasn't that she forgot. It was just that she didn't want to worry about it anymore. She didn't want to think about how lonely she must've seemed to everyone else, how pitiful they probably thought of her. It was better to just buckle down and do the work.

So she did. She dulled her thoughts until they revolved around school, and school only. She joined student organizations for the prestige, networked with important people to ease her way in the future, and surrounded her heart in barbed wire. He had hurt her with his words, that day. She wouldn't let it happen again.

Perhaps she would've been content to hide away from everyone for the rest of her life if things had turned out differently.

Somehow, though, she had been chosen for a different story, a different place, and a different life. If she had known how much love that kid could make her feel, how much admiration she could hold in her heart for that man, if she had known-

She would've been happier sooner. She would've let people in sooner. Jeremy would've been her friend, instead of her regret.

It had been days.

Naruto stood worriedly outside the doors of Charlie's hospital room, holding his elbows and pacing. The same thing he'd been doing since he'd brought her here, panicked, the day after his birthday. She hadn't answered the door, so this time, he'd busted it down. He hadn't felt right about leaving her there that night, something had felt off, her expressions had felt off.

He had been right, and he should've trusted his gut.

The medics had wrestled her body from him the moment he'd entered the hospital. They had thought he'd done it, until he'd finally got the words out. He didn't know who'd done it. He didn't know if she'd done it herself.

All he knew was, Charlie was in a coma. And it had been days.

They had told him that she'd be alright, but he didn't know if they really believed that. Even they had puzzled looks on their faces. They wrote copiously in her chart, but never let him see, and never left it where he could access it.

The Hokage had stopped by, which had been a surprise. All he'd done was stare forlornly at her and grip her hand, before leaving. There was something in his expression that set Naruto's teeth on edge. He knew something.

Kakashi had also stopped by yesterday, to Naruto's surprise. It wasn't Friday yet, but Naruto was glad to see him anyway, until all he did was brush past him with a head pat, stare at the girl a moment, make a weird expression, and leave. He knew something, too.

Neither of them would tell Naruto squat, and it was beginning to piss him off.

So there he was, resigned to pacing agitatedly until she awoke. The medics had said she would awaken soon, but then again, they'd said that two days ago, and today was day four. 'Just a case of chakra exhaustion,' they told him. Then, they changed it to, 'she just had a blocked chakra passageway. We cleared it up.' Then, it was, 'her body's just creating too much chakra. Give it a few days to level out.' How did that even happen?

Naruto entered the room again to check on her, the tenth time that day. He had been forced to go to school all that week, but the rest of the time he'd spent in her hospital room. Some of the nicer medics had given him some food to eat, seeing as he never left her side. Still, his stomach was about to eat itself.

"You better wake up soon," he said aloud to her, purposely slamming the door closed behind him in an attempt to scare her awake. It didn't work, not that he'd thought it would- comas weren't naps. Sometimes, you didn't wake up from comas. Sometimes, you stay in them forever.

Despite the situation, she looked really healthy. Her cheeks were just as rosy as they always were, her skin hadn't lost that healthy hue it always had. Her hair was just as shiny, and she didn't look like she'd lost any weight at all despite being tube-fed her nutrients.

He gripped her hand, and gaped at the heat it was letting off. He felt her forehead, and recognized that yes, she definitely had a fever. That was new.

Swallowing nervously, Naruto went back out into the hall to hail down a medic. He finally caught one, who looked rushed and very much like he didn't want to be there. The man felt her temperature, and just sighed. "Yeah, she's pretty hot," he said. "Help me get her into an ice bath."

The two of them dragged her into the bathroom and set her in the tub, turning the water on the coldest setting possible and letting it run over her. "I'll be back with ice," the medic said, giving a suffering sigh as he left the room.

Naruto glared at his retreating back. The guy may have had a lot of patients, but this was his friend, damn it!

The kunai she'd given him burned in his pocket. He hadn't had the chance to test it out yet, but now he realized he wanted her to be there for it.

The medic came back with a five gallon bucket loaded with ice, groaning with the strain of lifting it. Naruto had little pity as, without ceremony, the man dumped the ice directly into the tub. It swirled chaotically around her as he shoved the majority of her body into the water, leaving her face free to breathe. Naruto could've swore he saw her hand twitching, but maybe it was just his imagination.

No, no, there. He'd seen it that time, he was sure of it. "Hey, look, her hand's moving!" he shouted excitedly, pointing down at the submerged hand.

"It's probably just reacting to the change in temperature," the medic explained, at least semi-gently.

Naruto scowled. She was waking up, he knew it.

They left her in the ice bath for ten minutes, and once her temperature had cooled down, pulled her out. She was sopping wet, and the medic made him wait outside while he toweled her off and changed her gown. Her hair was still dripping beads of water on the floor by the time he emerged with her.

As soon as the man put her down, he unlocked her medical chart from the cabinet above her head and started writing in it. "Hey! What's wrong with her!" Naruto exclaimed, marching forward. "No one's been telling me anything, all they do is scribble on that piece of paper and lock it away again!"

He wanted answers, but by the firm glance the older man gave him, he wouldn't be getting them. "Because it is private information you don't need to know," he said coldly.

"She's my friend! My only friend! So I do need to know!"

The medic merely scoffed at him and locked the clipboard away again. "If you're not mother, father, brother, or sister, you don't need to know anything. Let me know if she gets warm again." And then he left, marching out with the same hustle he'd had marching down the hall earlier.

Anger bared its ugly face in his heart, and Naruto crossed his arms. If they wouldn't tell him, he'd find someone who would.

"What do you think is happening right now?"

"I don't know. Naruto's probably losing his mind. I feel bad for making him worry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault."

"It kind of was. This is what I get for going where I don't belong."

"Of course you belong. It's yours to take."

"It doesn't feel that way. I can't control that. How could I possibly..."

"I managed it."

"I don't think you get that an 11-year-old body can't handle that much chakra."

"Eleven?"

"I think so. It's definitely been a few days. My birthday's the 13th."

"I didn't know."

"It's fine, now you do."

"Happy maybe-birthday, Charlie."

"Thanks."

Sarutobi Hiruzen was addressing a group of ANBU when he felt the boy's presence angrily stomping up the stairs. He hurriedly dismissed them, adjusted his haori, and had just managed to sit in his seat before Naruto stormed in.

"What's wrong with Charlie?" he demanded instantly, not even bothering to address him- by Ojii-san, Hokage-sama, or otherwise.

Sarutobi blinked. "What do you mean?"

The animated kid squinted at him, crossing his arms and puffing his chest as though he were about three feet taller and a hundred pounds heavier. "She's sick, and nobody will tell me what with."

He had hoped that the girl would wake up before Naruto started to bang around asking for answers. It would save him from having to explain her situation and worry him further. But there wasn't much else he could do. Charlie was sick, there was no denying it, and there was nothing, virtually nothing they could do about it.

Though, they didn't call him the Professor for nothing. He had already prepared an explanation for the boy, and it was the same explanation he'd given to the staff at the hospital. Close enough to the truth to be workable, but leaving out all the details. "Charlie-chan is allergic to chakra," he explained shortly.

It wasn't an allergy, or at least, not exactly. It was more like there had been an unforseen link between Minato's chakra system and Charlie's. Somehow, someway, the girl had managed to open the barrier keeping their systems separate. Nobody understood the details, not even Sarutobi himself, but that's what Inoichi had seen. Minato's chakra was overwhelming Charlie's dead system, a system which reacted violently to being activated.

He was glad that she was asleep. He had no doubt that it was extremely painful.

The boy frowned at him. "Allergic? What do you mean? She uses chakra all the time."

The Hokage sighed, shaking his head. "There's a reason for that. Her regular amount of chakra pains her, but as it keeps building, it overloads her system. Charlie-chan didn't use her chakra enough to keep it down, and it overwhelmed her." That was mostly a lie. Sarutobi had no doubt that Minato's chakra would be painful to her once she did wake up, but using it wouldn't help it go away.

She would have to deal with it. At least until her system got used to it- if it got used to it. He hoped it would.

"Then how come the people at the hospital couldn't just tell me that?" Naruto asked, scowling. "If that's all it was, why was it a secret?"

The Hokage pressed his lips together. "Well, because they didn't want to worry you further. It's up to her to wake up, and she's been physically fine for days."

That, that was the truth.

"Do you see anything?"

"No, not really. I can hear you, but that's it."

"I can see."

"You can? How come? Are my eyes open?"

"No, I can't see the room or anything. Just you."

"Like... looking down at me?"

"No. Not like your face, or your body. It's more like..."

"Like what?"

"Like your soul. Maybe. It feels just like you."

"Huh? What do I feel like?"

"Like... like the first warm day after a season of snow."

"That's poetic."

"You turned red."

"Huh?"

"Your soul, it looks like... like a galaxy, like a fog of stars. It changes color. Right now it just turned red."

"I don't think I like that you can see my soul, Minato."

"It's less seeing with my eyes and more like... I don't know. Experiencing."

"You make no sense. And it's still weird."

"Weird? Why weird? It's beautiful."

Kakashi came to the hospital on Friday and dragged him out of the room.

Not just out of the room. He dragged him, kicking and screaming, all the way to his apartment, and forced him to take a shower. Then, he forced him to have dinner. Then, he forced him to training grounds #8.

"How'd you know about this place? Only Charlie and I go here," Naruto said, glaring crossly at his new sensei. Saying her name sent a pang to his heart, but he'd done it without thinking.

The jounin just shook his head. "Doesn't matter. It's time to train." His voice was stony, and if Naruto could ever see beyond that stupid mask of his, his face probably was too.

"I don't want to train. Not without her."

The older man winced. "You've done it before."

"That was before she was dying."

"She's not dying. Stop making excuses and work, I'm not getting paid to let you sit in your own filth and wait for the future. Now move." Kakashi disappeared, which meant that Naruto needed to act quickly before he'd be flat on his back.

He ran towards a nearby tree, scaling it as quickly as he could. His tree walking still wasn't really up to par- oftentimes, he ended up breaking the tree by forcing too much chakra- but he managed to scale it with minimal chakra, and hid in the shade of the leaves. The day was quickly giving way to night, but he still would need to use the shadows to his advantage.

"You're not hiding your chakra," Kakashi said from behind him, and kicked him off his perch.

Naruto cursed, and managed to flail in the air so that he landed feet-first on the ground. He glared up at where the jounin now stood, casually reading his book. "You never taught me that!" he exclaimed. "I didn't even know that was a thing!" It was true, he hadn't.

Kakashi's one visible eyebrow raised. "Oh? A secret your friend didn't teach you, huh? That's too bad." Then, he was shunshinning again. Naruto cursed and grabbed an army of shuriken from his pouch, resolving to be on the defensive. There was no way he could beat this guy. He'd just let him exhaust himself.

Though evidently, Kakashi wasn't interested in that turn of events. As soon as it became apparent that Naruto was just poofing his clones away, ducking, and hiding, he suppressed his chakra, snuck up behind him, and gave him his famed '1000 years of pain' jutsu.

Naruto hit the ground face-first, clutching his ass. "Bastard!" he bit out, groaning. He stood slowly, wiping the dirt from his cheek. What was this guy's deal? Why was he so pissed off? "Did you drag me out here just to beat me up?!"

Kakashi stood a few meters away with his arms crossed. Though his finger held the space in his book, he wasn't reading it this time. "No, I dragged you out here to train. You haven't been training all week. So this is your payment."

Naruto scowled. "You know damn well why I haven't been training!"

"Which is why I'm here now to rectify things." Before Naruto could ask what 'rectify' meant, he was made to sit and stay still. "Since we agreed to work on chakra control this time round, I suppose the sparring can wait. But next time around, I won't be so kind."

Naruto opened his mouth to sass him back, but closed it. He really didn't want to be on the butt end of Kakashi's wrath again.

"So let's work on tree walking instead. Ne?" Ever unaffected, the jounin gave him an eye-smile.

He could kill him.

So that's what they did. Long into the night, for much longer than any regular kid probably could've, Naruto practiced tree walking. Kakashi was nice enough to stay that time and coach him, though most of the time he just read his book and chuckled every time Naruto fell down.

He was making progress though, the blond thought optimistically. To his surprise, he had managed to get to the highest branches. The problem he faced mainly revolved around sticking upside down, which Kakashi had demonstrated to him many a time with no issue. It bugged him greatly that he couldn't reign in his chakra like Kakashi could, even if Charlie had said he had abnormally large reserves.

As he made the last cut in the bark, after walking calmly yet swiftly up the trunk, he tried his level best to walk down the same way he walked up. It was harder that way. Gravity wanted him to either run down, or fall flat to the ground below, yet he wanted to move slow.

Unfortunately, his exhaustion won over him, and his control over his chakra slipped enough to disconnect him from the tree about halfway down.

Fortunately, his teacher was at the base, and caught the back of his shirt about a foot before he reached the ground. Naruto gasped, flailing a little in his shock, before Kakashi unceremoniously dropped him. He met the earth with a thump, though thankfully it wasn't as painful a fall as it could've been.

"Thanks," Naruto said grudgingly as he sat up and wiped the concentration sweat from his forehead. If he wasn't a master at controlling his chakra after this, he'd ask for his money back.

Kakashi smiled that weird smile again, and Naruto couldn't decide if it was fake or not. "Feel better?"

Naruto set his jaw as an embarrassed flush crossed his face. He itched the back of his neck as he said, "I feel fine."

"It's okay to worry about your friends, you know," Kakashi said suddenly, as he started moving to the exit and gestured Naruto to follow.

"I know it is!" Naruto defended immediately.

"But you also need to think about what they want. Charlie-chan wouldn't like you not showering or eating or sleeping just to sit at her bedside and wait for her to wake up." Kakashi's footsteps halted as he glanced over his shoulder to see Naruto's reaction.

The blond glared. "What do you care about what she wants? You only came once," he said, accusatory. "Do you even know her?"

"I know enough to know that you're one of the only people here that she cares about. I'm doing her a favor here. So don't let her down, 'kay?" His eye crinkled. "Oh, and by the way... good job today."

Then he was walking, with nothing more than a wave, and Naruto was standing there trying to decipher what he'd just said.

"Charlie?"

"Hm?"

"I think you should probably wake up now."

"Why? It's nicer here."

"Be that as it may, I think my son is getting rather impatient."

"How do you know?"

"Call it a sixth sense."

"...I'm not going to bother explaining to you the fallacy in that statement."

"Just wake up, would you?"

"Whatever. I guess I'll try."

Her hand was twitching again.

Naruto leaned forward, grabbing it into his own and squeezing tightly. "Wake up already, wouldja?" he grumbled. Today marked day five- it was now Sunday, and he would damned if she didn't wake up before classes started up again. He'd already been forced to take notes for her.

He didn't think it would work- it didn't work the past 65 times he did it- but she indeed started groaning, and her eyes moved behind their lids. "Charlie! Get up!" he exclaimed, shooting out of his chair.

Her hand squeezed his tight enough that he tore himself free, grumbling a little and holding it to his chest. He was about to protest when he saw her forehead crinkle and her mouth turn down. She made a small whimper of pain and her head tossed to the side. "Charlie?"

Amber eyes fluttered open halfway. "Charlie, are you okay?" Naruto asked, leaning forward.

She blinked a few times, then opened her mouth. "Water," she croaked. The blond rushed to the bathroom, grabbing a cup and filling it before quickly returning it to her. She drank deeply.

"Feel...on fire," Charlie said, a weird expression on her face. She held her hands up to her face to check if she really wasn't.

Naruto reached to check her temperature, and found it high again. Pulling his hand back from her forehead, he started to say that he was going to get a medic, but stopped. She was out again.

He went and got the medic.

Charlie woke up three more times before she could stay awake.

It was an emotional whirlwind for the blond boy, who could frustratingly do nothing but get her water and try to talk to her each time she rose. The first couple times she opened her eyes, she didn't seem to comprehend what he was saying to her- all she did was ask for water, then conk out again. The third time, she was aware long enough to give him a weak smile before her expression flattened and she looked dangerously close to passing out again.

"Chaaaarlie. Hey!" Naruto called, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. She winced at his grip, hazel eyes opening again. "Stay up this time, would ya?" he grumbled, letting her fall back to the bed. There was nothing physically wrong with her, besides her chakra, so he figured it safe to do so.

She blinked uncomprehendingly before saying, "Mn... this time...?" Her eyebrows furrowed curiously.

Naruto sighed, reaching to her bedside to grab the pitcher and cup he'd just filled. He felt like a nurse. "You keep going back to sleep."

Charlie took the water he offered her greedily, and didn't seem to mind the drips of it that darkened her hospital gown as she chugged. "S'hot," she whined when she was finished. Her legs pushed the blankets over her waist down to the base of the bed.

Naruto laughed internally. He wasn't used to Charlie whining like that, like a little kid. It wasn't really hot in the room, but he figured her words had something to do with what she'd said earlier, that she was on fire. He wondered if it had something to do with her chakra allergy.

He didn't really understand that. Chakra allergies. How could a person be allergic to something inside them? It was like being allergic to... to, like, your liver or something. He supposed it didn't have to make sense to him, but... "I didn't know you had a chakra allergy," he couldn't help but say.

Charlie's expression changed slowly to confusion, then to acceptance. She just shrugged, and glanced around the room with dazed eyes. "How long have I...?"

"A few days," Naruto replied.

"Oh." Charlie stretched her arms out in front of her, then behind her head as she did her best to sit up. Then, she gave him a small grin. "I missed you."

She held her arms out for him, and he was more than willing to lunge into the hug.

Bisque-Ware: Maybeeee!

Guest: Thanks dude! I appreciate it :D

Lyrigami: We shall see, I do believe fuuinjutsu needs chakra to activate though :P

Kay Starlight: Baby Naru is my favorite human uwu. And to answer your chakra question, I don't want to spoil anything- so who knows? Thanks for your review!

nashmeira: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it, hope you enjoyed this one.