DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own. I will end up using it, I promise! BTW, I'd love to hear what you think of this so far, as well as any pairings or situations you'd like to see!

Thinking

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

Shikamaru couldn't believe that it had already started.

By the time the class went out to lunch, he'd already heard the kids he assumed came from civilian backgrounds begin talking about cute little Naruto secretly being a monster, a demon, or even a fox. Seriously, how could a village full of shinobi allow something like this?! And wasn't Naruto not supposed to know about her tenant?! Even if some of the assholes here thought that the little girl could be a potential weapon or something, she sure as hell wouldn't want to be one in the service of this village from what he was already hearing. Shikamaru was so irritated he didn't hear when Ino waved goodbye to him to go sit with all but a couple of girls in their year. He only stopped looking for where Naruto or Sasuke was when Choji yanked gently on his shirt.

"So where do you wanna sit, Shikamaru?" Choji asked a second time. He was really hungry.

"Maa, I was thinking we could make some friends, ne? What do you say we track down Uzumaki-san and Uchiha-san?"

"Mm, I don't know, Shikamaru. Uchiha never seemed like he wants someone like me around, and well... You heard what people have been saying about Uzumaki-chan."

Shikamaru hadn't anticipated Choji still being worried about people not liking him because of his size. He'd known Choji for at least half of the life he'd led here, and he always reassured him that his size and family's need for calories was "totally badass" and that anyone with a brain could recognize it. Choji's father was normally a nice man, but he could be a hard ass on Choji sometimes, as he was trying to toughen his kind friend up.

At least a year ago, it seemed his friend had grown out of most of his insecurities, but perhaps the Nara had been wrong about that. "I don't know about that, Choji. Why don't we go see? Oh, and by the way, I think all that talk about Naruto-chan is a hoax. A really mean hoax."

"You mean she's being bullied?" Choji asked. "It makes sense, I guess. She's real pretty." He continued following his best friend around the schoolyard.

"Troublesome. That she is, Choji; that she is. Oh! She's over there."

Naruto was standing under a tree, talking quietly to the Aburame of all people. Shikamaru was surprised that the Uchiha seemed to be following her from a respectful distance, and actually snorted at seeing a Hyuuga girl that had to be Hinata hiding and watching the girl from behind a tree as she ate an onigiri.

"...you have bugs under your control? That's so cool!" Naruto seemed to be getting more excited and a little louder as she continued to talk.

Honestly, she was just so glad - more than she ever thought she would be - to talk to and possibly make a friend around her supposed age. The Aburame boy seemed quiet and serious in class, just like the Uchiha boy. Maybe they could eventually do something in the future together!

"Man, I ALMOST wish that I could do that because, you know, I could make sure there weren't any like, roaches in my bathtub or what have you, but that's neither here nor there! How do you do it, 'ttebane? Oh gods, please forgive that horrible verbal tick that seems to have recently come out of nowhere!"

Shino sat in silence as the pretty blonde girl talked a thousand clicks a minute to him. To him! He was well aware that outsiders generally avoided members of the Aburame clan, and had long ago been specifically informed and warned of this fact. Over the years he had even been denied entrance to a few stores for reasons that were suspicious when he had occasionally gone somewhere without his father, although the store owners had always been polite. And afraid - or maybe it was because some were "grossed out," as he'd heard one civilian woman say. He wasn't sure if something was wrong with Uzumaki Naruto considering that the other children were saying horrible things about her. He only knew that she was completely odd, which was... interesting. He wasn't especially good with interpersonal relationships, but his father had insisted that he needed to reach out to make a friend this week. Perhaps he wouldn't have to.

"My kikaichu and I have a symbiotic relationship. They are my allies," Shino said as he continued to stare at the strange girl.

"Cool! So is that why you're buzzing? Where are they? I don't quite get it." Naruto asked, her big azure eyes bright and happy. Shikamaru and Choji, who had finally approached the two as Sasuke moved up as well, all wanted to face-palm. Asking questions about other clan's techniques like that when you just met someone was definitely a no-no, but it had to be worse for the Aburame: they had a rather intimate connection with their bugs.

Here it comes, Shino thought. She'd surely run and make a scene if he told her, but dishonestly was not something he would tolerate with potential comrades. His father had informed him of the potential consequences of that. "Yes. The 'buzzing' you hear comes from my kikaichu which were infused into my body at birth."

Naruto considered it for a minute, and her mouth just puked out her thoughts without her consent. "Hmm. So I take back wishing that I had your ability, Aburame-san, but if you're cool with it, so am I. Can I sit here? Can I see your kikaichu?!" She plopped down quite close to the boy, all smiles and sunshine, although she didn't realize it.

Shino just continued to stare at the weird girl and didn't even think about the food in his bento.

Shikamaru accidentally made a sound between a laugh and a cough, getting both children's attention. "Maa," he choked out a laugh again, feeling ridiculously nervous - these are just kids after all! "Can we eat with you two?" Kami, I can't believe I asked something so lame! He'd had "kid-cool" plans on how to approach Uzumaki Naruto, but they all flew out the window once he saw that she was a girl.

"SURE! Hey, should we ask that girl behind the tree, too?" Naruto leaned back, trying to get a better look at the girl who was all by herself. "HEY TREE GIRL," Naruto jumped up and went running over the girl behind the tree, regretting that her mouth had run off yet again. This always happened in both lives - well, back when she was young in her first life - whenever she got too excited. ADHD could be a real bitch. She panicked when the girl literally passed out when she got close to her. "Aaaah! HELP!"

A boy with a white puppy ran over. "What did you do to Hinata-sama?" His voice was accusing.

"I didn't do anything! I was going to ask her to sit with us so we could eat lunch together," Naruto replied, only for their sensei to come running over to check on the Hyuuga heiress.

"What did you do to her, Uzumaki?" Iruka-sensei asked harshly, using no honorific or first name as he did with his other new students. Naruto definitely noticed.

"I - I only," Ru felt her eyes beginning to tear up.

"Oi sensei! Naruto only went over to ask her to sit with us while we ate lunch." Shikamaru put his hand on Naruto's small shoulder. "Were you trying to accuse her of something else?" he asked sharply.

"Whatever, I'll take her to the nurse," Iruka picked up the Hyuuga, totally ignoring the boy's question, and sunshinned away. Shikamaru was more pissed off than surprised; he'd remembered Naruto and Iruka being quite close in the anime.

"Thank you, Nara-san," Naruto sniffed as she bowed from the waist. "I'm afraid that... there are a lot of people that don't like me."

"What a drag," Shikamaru began and felt himself blush - fucking blush - at the brilliant smile that began to creep up the blonde's face. Good lord, she was really a pretty little girl: bright blonde hair, tan flawless skin, and probably the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen in either of his lives. If he hadn't died as a man getting closer and closer to 30, he might already have a crush on her. Troublesome. He was going to have to watch over Uzumaki Naruto even more now. "Why don't we go back to bug boy and have some lunch."

"Hey! Don't call him that: it's rude! Right, Aburame-san?" She plopped back down next to the Aburame, and the other boys helped to form a circle as they sat down beside the two.

"Indeed, Uzumaki-san."

"Oh! Please don't call me that! My name's Naruto, although I've gone by 'Ru,' too. You can call me either, but please: no honorifics. They've always thrown me, although I've trained myself to know and... Gomen, I'm rambling again." She fizzled out at the end as her cheeks turned pinker.

"Troublesome. However, I agree, Naruto." He gave the girl a grin and then looked away at the other boys he hadn't spent much time with. "I'm Shikamaru - just Shikamaru - and I'm pleased to meet you and Aburame-san. This is Akimichi Choji-kun, and it seems that you've met Uchiha Sasuke-san."

"Hn."

Hilarious, I can't believe a human actually says that. Had Shikamaru taken a bite of the fish he was just about to put in his mouth, he probably would've spit it out at Sasuke's actual, in the real response.

"It's nice to meet you! And I just met Uchiha-san this morning. I think he's shy." Naruto felt bad when Sasuke's very pale cheeks pinkened; she hadn't meant to embarrass him. "Gomen," she said quietly to him.

"You can just call me Choji, too, Naruto-san - I mean Naruto." The girl beamed at the bigger boy.

"This is so fun! I was so afraid I wouldn't make any friends today," Naruto gushed. "Do you think Hyuuga-san will be alright?"

"I think the heat musta gotten to her is all, it happens to me sometimes," Choji said, trying to be kind to both girls.

She smiled at all of them before picking up an onigiri out of her pretty orange bento. Looking over at the Aburame, she noticed that he was still staring at her. "I need to get some sunglasses, too," she said lamely. He finally held out his hand in front of her face and she noticed a little bug on it. Knowing little boys sometimes like bugs - and being that's what his clan's all about - she asked the only question on her mind, "What's that?"

Shino decided that this girl was a little slow. "It is my kikaichu, Naruto-san. The ally that I spoke of before."

"Oh. Why's he out?"

"You wanted to see one."

Naruto felt herself blush up to her roots. "You're so right Aburame-san. So now that he's out here, what can we do with him?" Shino continued to stare at her like he had been doing most of the time since she arrived on this side of the Academy grounds. Finally, he pushed his sunglasses up and cleared his throat rather importantly.

"I could use him to track someone, or... I suppose I could feed him." He was embarrassed when his entire new lunch group looked rather interested in this.

"What does it eat? Gomennasai! Does it prefer being referred to as a he, she, or they?"

Shikamaru stopped chewing for a few seconds, having been reminded for the first time in this life that some individuals didn't like having gender-specific pronouns used when being referred to. Honestly, he felt like a giant dick not having considered that even though he supposed it was because this hadn't come up since he'd been alive in this not-fiction. He apparently was just too sheltered or perhaps it was because he was so young once again to have had this brought up to him. That doesn't seem right. He noticed that the other boys had looked at her as if they were trying to find out what she meant. All but Shino, of course. It was impossible to determine what he was thinking with that high collar and the sunglasses covering most of his face.

"This is a male kikaichu. Kikaichu ingest sweet things such as..."

"That's great! Oops, gomennasai Aburame-san! I was just going to ask if they'd like red bean paste? I have this pudding my housemates insisted on putting in my bento, but I don't care for it and..." Naruto was cut off by Shino-san's bugs buzzing much louder. "I am sorry I interrupted again earlier. I tend to do that when I get excited or nervous," she said, looking down.

Shino held out his hand to the weird girl, and she moved to place the open pudding container into his hand. Before he was able to take it from her, however, his allies swarmed out from his hand to her own. She began giggling softly and even stayed in place before mentioning that they tickled. The boys didn't hide their surprise, but Shino was rather intrigued. When Naruto-san had arrived in class this morning, his kikaichu took an instant dislike to the girl.

No, that's not correct, Shino reconsidered. It's not that they necessarily disliked the girl with the bright blonde hair, it was the warning that they gave him that had made him very wary of her. Then at lunch, she approached him out of the blue, and now his kikaichu found her more than acceptable to interact with. This was a good sign. He'd have to speak about the girl with his father later. "You may call me Shino-san, Naruto-san."

"Okay, thank you, Shino-san" the girl grinned at him with a slight dip of her head and said she would try to bring them all "something awesome" tomorrow, although she wasn't sure that she'd have all of the ingredients she'd need in order to do so.

Arriving back in class, Naruto was immediately asked to sit and wait in the hallway. She was relieved to at least see that the Hyuuga girl was back in class. After gathering her things, she sat on the floor of the hallway for the rest of the day. She only stood up from her position of leaning against the wall when the girls from the classrooms surrounding her all came excitedly out en masse. She got the usual dirty looks from - well, most of them - but waited to see where they were going. She began to follow them out

"I know who and what you are, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto spun around to see the person who had just spoken to her so harshly. She had dark hair and glasses and even to her adult mind, the woman looked threatening. Her hitai-ate was hanging around her neck, and the woman's revulsion for her was almost suffocating.

"Who and what am I, Kunoichi-san?" Ru asked, remembering that her family had always instructed her to meet any challenges head-on, especially in territory neutral or favorable to her. Supposedly enemies would often back down, and shinobi were known to talk big. Also, she wanted to know something; she wanted to see if someone would admit just what she supposedly was. Let's see if she'll say it. Naruto watched the unknown kunoichi check their surroundings and Naruto took that moment to get into a more defensive position.

"I won't teach you," she sneered. "Just go back home. Oh, that's right: you don't have one! Your parents abandoned you." Naruto could see that the woman enjoyed the shock that must have shown on her face. This woman was just awful! "Go back to your fox den and..." She was quickly cut off and knocked out.

"Hi, Bear. You didn't really have to do that, ya know," Naruto said with irritation. Genma was in his ANBU uniform now and had the nasty sensei slumped over his arm before tossing her unceremoniously over his shoulder.

"Meh - I was lookin' for ya outside and when you didn't come out with the other girls, well... I thought I'd see if something happened."

"Thanks, I've been out in the hall ever since lunch," Ru said, looking back toward the classroom sheepishly. "Thought I'd made some friends this time, but it's not worth it."

"Don't say that, kid." Naruto just shrugged her shoulders. "It'll get better." The way Genma's senbon was rattling and spinning from the hole in his mask was telling, though. He was worried. "C'mon. Let's go see the Hokage.

Walking out of the Academy was made worse as Genma stood next to her in his imposing ANBU gear with what now seemed to be a fairly popular teacher amongst the girls. She'd heard about the kunoichi lessons and had been looking forward to learning about things like flowers and formal wear and such, but now it seemed that she'd be shut out of it. If not by the sensei who wouldn't teach her, she'd probably be harassed to no end by the girls who had raised their criticism of her up several notches and weren't really holding back as they walked by. Fortunately, the Hokage Tower was almost next door to the Academy, so Ru wouldn't be forced to be around the villagers for long.

An ANBU always escorted her whenever she was in the village to see the Hokage - or visit the hospital - and today she looked forward to going back home. Luck was not on her side.

"Hokage-sama, permission to deliver this filth to T&I," Genma said regarding his "cargo" as he escorted Ru into the Hokage's office. Naruto could feel sadness dripping from some of the ANBU she knew that were concealed in the room.

"Is something wrong, JiJi?"

"Absolutely not, Ru-chan! I planned to meet you at the Academy today, but seeing as you're out early, why not take a walk with me?" Hiruzen asked jovially. Something was off about him though, Naruto could just feel it.

Rather than head to the ramen bar, Naruto wondered where their destination was as he continued walking down the main thoroughfare of the village for quite a long time. She was really uncomfortable being around all of these people who she could feel the "displeasure" rolling off of, even as she was in the middle of an ANBU formation, walking next to the Hokage. Usually, the village leader talked to her, but this time he spent his time making small talk to almost everyone on the streets. As they continued their stroll, there were fewer and fewer people around. Still, he didn't directly address her.

Naruto started feeling a sick sensation in her stomach: something weird was going on here, something she wasn't prepared for. The buildings were getting older and weren't properly repaired. She heard women crying as they continued to walk, and heard what sounded like violent altercations. No one was approaching the Hokage anymore, in fact, they seemed to scurry away when they saw him. They passed a building only to see a couple having sex right in the alleyway! The Hokage shielded her eyes while continuing to walk along with her for several steps, and Naruto had finally had enough. "Where are we going? What's the meaning of this?"

"I have a surprise for you. Let's go up the stairs. Keep your eyes closed." Reaching what seemed to be the fourth floor from the way the stairs went one way and then the other, Ru opened her eyes.

"Who lives here?" She felt sorry for whoever did, but her heart was beating wildly.

"This is your new apartment, Ru." Hiruzen unlocked the door and saw the girl look up at him as if he was mad. Maybe he was. God knows he saw Minato standing there behind his little girl, looking at him with a betrayed look on his face, the same way his daughter was. "I think you'll find it fully furnished and stocked. Moon will introduce you to the woman downstairs who can shop and may occasionally cook for you."

Naruto looked back at Moon, but the purple-haired woman was looking away from her. She could somehow feel the remorse the woman might be feeling. That wasn't new to her. Stepping into the apartment, Ru found it run-down, but the main room was large. The smell of fresh paint still hung in the air sourly - or maybe that was the carpet and sofa that were just so old and stained. "There's just one bedroom?"

"This is your apartment, Ru-chan. Yours alone. Now that you're at the Academy," Hiruzen began.

"They won't teach me. I don't want to be there!" She knew that she sounded childish and didn't mean to lash out like that, but her words were true. Hiruzen said nothing, only tipped his ridiculous punk-ass hat down to hide his old face! She shook her head and tried to be positive.

Honestly, she could make do with the apartment even though the place gave her the willies. The real problem was where it was located - so far from the Academy, and in such a run-down neighborhood. Honestly, it frightened her. For fuck's sake! I'm only 6! "Oh my God. Is where we're at... are we in the Red Light District?!"

"Absolutely not," Hiruzen said as Moon gave a terse "Yes!" at the same time.

"Stand down, Moon. It is not... that place, Naruto-chan. I would advise, however, that you do not venture north." Naruto looked at the man she used to consider something of a grandfather figure with her mouth still hanging open. "Moon, why don't you show Ru-chan around. Unfortunately, I have to get back to the office." The senile old fossil vanished and was followed by the other ANBU which included Anko and Gai.

"He's serious about this?!" Ru asked Moon, who only tapped her fingers along a dingy countertop in the kitchen.

"Let's take a look around, shall we?" Moon advised, her voice laced with concern.

The whiskered blonde found that everything she had from all the houses she lived in was there. All the stuff that was hers, that is, naturally. The fridge was full of nutritious food, as were the cupboards, which also housed really old dishes and the like along with cleaning supplies - which she'd be using immediately. There was a new rice cooker and teapot, which was nice, a step-stool so she could reach the sinks and countertops, and there was even a huge wrap-around balcony. She also learned that she had access to the roof. Ru would've loved a terrace had it not been overlooking a whorehouse. An ADVERTISED, with signs in front of it, whorehouse!

"He said it was all that's available," Moon said sadly.

"Yeah, to the fox girl: I bet that's true," Naruto said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't ever call yourself that!" Naruto wanted to argue, but she was afraid of more than just this location right now. "Will I ever see you again?" she asked in a broken whisper.

Moon pulled her into a gentle embrace for a long time. "We have new missions now, Ru. I've left a box for you underneath your bed..." Moon looked around before pulling up her mask and grabbing the girl's hand to pull her into the bedroom. After she looked through the dirty windows and shutting the door, she put up a silencing seal and pulled the box from under the bed. She began whispering in a somewhat hurried fashion, "Look, Naruto: what's in here is only for you: your eyes only. You must keep this safe and hidden, please!" Naruto just nodded her head: she could do that. "You remember how we made storage scrolls," Moon rolled a lengthy one out from thigh-holster. "Keep this with any and all things you consider valuable or precious to you... seal them in this. I think everything will be safer this way."

Naruto was rather horrified that her new apartment ostensibly lacked security to that degree but agreed to it. "Should I use a blood component to keep others out of it? Specifically out of the box? This storage scroll looks expensive, from what you told me before."

"Don't worry about it. There are plenty of storage slots in this particular scroll; you can even put other storage scrolls inside of them, and it can handle everything and more need, I think, although there is an eventual limit. I'd suggest using a different scroll for your weapons for the Academy and such, but always keep something on you! A weapon, Ru. Always." Moon placed the box inside the storage scroll and took out weapons from one of the slots already filled. She handed a sharpened kunai to Naruto, then put one under her pillow.

"It's that bad, huh?" Naruto asked, but her question was only answered as Moon hid more weapons all over the apartment.

"I've been gone too long. Keep that scroll with you at all times! I love you, kid," Moon said.

That did it. The waterworks were on and Ru/Rachel/Naruto/Whatever the hell anyone wanted to call her couldn't stop them. Moon tried to soothe her for a bit before asking her if she could find her way to school in the morning. It was pretty much a straight shot aside from a couple of right turns, and using chakra, she could get there quickly enough. Probably. It had taken a half-hour or more to get her here, moseying along with the Hokage.

The Hokage, who put her in this spot, then just vanished on her.

"One of us will check on you in the morning, but we won't be able to interact with you."

Naruto tried to force down the way her lips wanted to curl up in a sneer at that. "No. Your mission's over and I don't want to potentially get anyone in trouble. Thanks by the way." She deeply bowed to her guard, who sunshinned away from her. "Goodbye," she said to no one. As soon as she left, Naruto curled up on her purple comforter and balled. Knowing they didn't come from her ANBU, her supposed pseudo-family, she curled up with a frog and pug plushie that she'd had as for as long as she could remember and buried her head in between them, crying and utterly miserable.