"The Fox and The Haruno"
by: QuasiAngel

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto or any of the characters... but I am sure you already knew that.

Author Notes- This is a little one-shot that takes place during Naruto's fight with Neji during the exams. It has no yaoi, no pairing, no fighting. It's just a little story about girl and her team-mate... It is in Sakura's first person and the part in italics is a flashback.

This is my first Naruto fic, so be nice and review. Enjoy!

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When I was little, my father told me a story that I would remember for the rest of my life. A story that struck fear in my heart and helped me become the young woman I am today. I never thanked him for telling me this story, but it changed my life.

\

"Sakura?"

"Father!"

I sat in the flowerbed that my mother spent an entire weekend planting only a few day before the anniversary of my 6th year. It was very impressive for a woman that had no professional experience in landscaping. You couldn't experience their beauty until now- until they were all blooming. There were annuals and perennials sorted my type and color. They were arranged in a gradient pattern that ended in a deep shade of orange. At sunset, it looked as it the flowers were a part of the sky. I was in the blue section.

My father tip-toe across the bed, trying hard not to trample on the foliage with his giant feet. Although they are not so enormous now, they were when I was only 3 feet in height!

But I remember the look on his face. He tried his best to look stern and mean as a father is supposed to, but I knew the look in his eye. The look that meant I did something wrong, but I was still his little princess.

He held out his large hand to me and I took it. He pulled me up and I stood along with his movement. The roughness of his pull shook me a bit, but I would never tell him that. After all, I was a ninja-in-training. I had insisted he treat me like a ninja! And he did, never handling me different than he would a boy- after all, I was (and still am) his ninja princess.

I grabbed my basket of flowers before he guided me to the stoop that lead into the house. We sat down and he immediately started.

"Sakura, how many times has your mother told you to stay out of her garden?"

I tried to turn away, but he placed a callous thumb under my chin and turned my head towards him.

"I- I wanted to give flowers to my new friend, Ino. The b-blue flowers match her eyes."

Something sparkled in his eyes when I said the word friend. There was no stretching the truth when I say I didn't have many friends. He was proud.

"Did you ask your mother if you could give one of her flowers to Ino-chan?"

"No."

"You know better, Sakura."

"I know, father."

He smirked and made that face fathers make when they knew something that their children don't, "Must have been that Kyubi again."

He said it in a playful manner and tickled my tummy- a habit of his. When my giggling subsided, he was about to stand. I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled on his shirt. He stayed.

He always brought up Kyubi, mostly when I misbehaved, but I always failed to ask him about it. Not this time, "You still haven't told me what a Kyubi is."

My father looked around and glanced at the window that looked over the garden. Probably looking for my mother.

"Kyubi is not a what, he is a who."

I mouthed the word who as he continued.

"You promise you won't tell anyone? Especially your mother?"

I nodded. And for reassurance, he held out his pinkie to me. I hooked my tiny one with his and shook, swearing that I would keep my word.

I must have had a strange look on my face for my father chuckled a bit. His expression slowly faded to blank and he looked away.

"Six years ago, a demon fox with 9 tails named Kyubi terrorized our village. Even the strongest ninjas could not stop him. The only way to put an end to his destruction was to seal him within the belly of a new born and that is what the 4th Hokage did."

I was beyond shocked. And of course being the brilliant child I was, I immediately put 2 and 2 together.

"A baby? But I am 6! Do I have a fox in my belly?!"

His response with a hearty laugh and another tickle.

"Is he? Is he in my belly, Father?"

"I don't know Sakura. Maybe."

"Daddy? Could he really be inside of me?"

"Sometimes I think he might. After all, you are my perfect little ninja princess," he stood up quickly and hoisted my onto his left shoulder, "Princesses don't misbehave. It must be that sly old fox."

He tickled me again and carried my basket and I in the house. Even though I laughed and smiled the whole way, the fact that a fox could be in my belly scared me.

"Remember, don't tell your mother about Kyubi."

"Only if you wont tell her about these," I held the basket in front of me.

"I promise. Now- run along and study Sakura."

"Yes father."

I ran along and I studied. I feared the fox would make me do something bad so I did what I was told to do.

Later that same night, I awoke to the loud voice of my mother. Curiosity got the best of me. They never fought when I was in the house. I figured it must have been something serious so I crept towards my door and cracked it a bit. Sitting on the floor, I listened.

"I can't believe you told her that! It's forbidden!"

"Its not like I told her who it is. I didn't mention his name. What's the harm in that?"

"What's the harm in making Sakura think she is that damned demon? What's the harm in letting her know the horrors of what our village has witnessed? There is a lot of harm in that!"

"I thought it would teach her a lesson."

"A lesson she doesn't need to know. It's bad enough the boy is in her class!"

The rest of the argument was just a murmur to me. I crawled back into my room, shut the door and crawled under my covers.

"Kyubi is in my class?"

/

Even though it was reviled to me that fateful night that I was not the host of the fox, I still did everything by the book. Moulding myself into an obedient child with a lot of potential, trying hard to conceal the imaginary demon that harbours inside of every child. Along with that I took up the hobby of mentally gathering information that would lead to the true identity of the cursed boy. That didn't last long.

As of late, I had kept the story in the back of my head, not really paying it any mind. But now as I sit in the crowded stands staring at a boy I've known since before the story hit my ears, I can't stop thinking about it.

What just played out before me hit me like a ton of bricks. He was supposed to be down for the count. It was obvious; nevertheless he beat the odds for the umpteenth time and rose again with more stamina than he had had before he started.

I should be cheering Naruto on. I should be supporting him like a team-mate should in this situation, but I can't. For the boy that I am seeing before me is not the boy I shunned, scolded, and tried my best to avoid. He is not the boy that has surprised me time after time since we, Sasuke included, had formed Team 7. He's different and everyone in the stands knows it. This boy that was standing in the middle of the arena with an aura so powerful you could see and feel it was not my Naruto.

If not, then who was this boy? It looked like Naruto- the blonde with the toothy grin and a sly demeanour. The slacker, the loud mouth, the drop out. But as this fight went on and his body was at the point where it couldn't even stand, he found a power within himself and released it. He was now faster, stronger, smarter, more determined, almost unstoppable, and extremely unpredictable.

The charka was now fully visible and erupted in a swirl of autumn colors, coming out of the ground like a wild fire. Nine intense orange flames of power licked at the space around him- encircling him. I couldn't tell if they were coming from him or from an underground source of power that obeyed only the boy in orange. I could feel his charka. It ignited the tiny hairs all over my body and burned its way into my skin. I had felt something similar to this during the stand off with Zabuza and Haku. More specifically when Naruto fought the youngest of the pair. Coincidence? Maybe, but physical signs of the Nine Tailed Fox and it's power pointed to my comrade.

But Kyubi or not, that is my Naruto. Always turning heads wherever he goes. Today especially, for it is the day he has made his mark, scorching himself into the hearts and minds of everyone in attendance. Especially mine.

HELL YEAH!

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The End.