-PROLOGUE-

Naruto itched at his bandaged prosthetic arm as he stared out the horizon squinting. It was late afternoon, and the sun was slowly disappearing, filling the sky with crimson and the clouds hazing with soft oranges and pinks.
The destroyed ruins of the Valley of the End laid before him as he sat on the cliff where the stone statue of Hashirama, the First Hokage, once stood. It was a good place for him to think, far from Konoha, and with the war over it was safe and peaceful.

It had been three weeks since that day, three weeks, two days and 13 hours since he awoke here laying next to his best friend, both of them utterly beaten with each sporting missing limbs.

Sasuke... Sasuke Uchiha.

His best friend, brother and teammate, and almost grave sharer.

The moment he was conscious after their battle he knew that they should have been dead. There was so much power involved, immense amounts of chakra...
They were attacking for the kill, but by some inconceivable reason, fate be damned, they both survived. Not only that, Sasuke had finally accepted him, and the war was now over.

In the days following, funerals were held for all the dead, including Neji Hyuuga. He had done his best to comfort Hinata, who cried a lot that day... So much that she didn't even faint when he hugged her.

Hinata.

He didn't know what to do about the Hyuuga heiress.
She had confessed to him during the fight with Pein, but since then he hadn't had the time to properly talk to her about it.

It was just never the right time.

War.

Death.

A lot got in the way of such things.

He wasn't sure what to make of her feelings.
She said she loved him
She was the second girl to say that to him, but whether it was true or not remained to be seen.

Sakura's love confession to him previous to that was fake, and they both knew that. A desperate act to make him come home.
Not an act of deceit, however, so he would never blame Sakura for that.

But Hinata... He had no idea.

Naruto sighed loudly and stood to stretch. He had been there for several hours, and with the sun setting like that, he needed to get back to the village.
He dusted himself off and prepared to leave, but stopped.

He wasn't alone.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he sensed a chakra signature he didn't notice before. He was too deep in thought, it was careless but it didn't matter.

He knew now, and that was enough.

It was weak, but not weak enough to escape his notice. Without giving away his awareness, he let his eyes wonder the nearby vicinity to determine it's location.
Looking down from the cliff face was when he saw it.

There was a body.

And it was in the same spot where him and Sasuke had woken.

With all his shinobi prowess he jumped from ledge to ledge toward the, from what he could tell from that distance, a female body.
From the chakra she was giving off, she was injured. And with chakra that weak she was either close to death or a civilian.

But what would a civilian be doing here?

He landed with a soft thud at the base of the cliff and ran up to the woman only to stop dead in his tracks.

He felt his heart stop.

She was so pretty.

It wasn't a woman, but a girl.
A girl that looked the same age as he was.

Her skin was pale, either from her injuries or naturally he couldn't tell, but it looked soft, and in places where the sun would hit he noticed it was adorned with a light amount of freckles. Girls in Konoha didn't freckle like that, but on her it made her striking.
Her hair was long and worn out with a few small braids noticeable and hidden within her chestnut coloured tresses. It looked so silky, and contrasted well with the deep forest green dress she wore, which hugged her petite curves in all the right ways.
She had a plain face, but the long lashes attached to her closed eyes and the heavy concentration of freckles on her cute button nose made her far from it. She didn't need the make up she wore, in fact it looked out of place on her. It made him glad to see that whatever gloss her lips once had was long worn off and displayed a natural soft pink that made him sigh.

It was then that he noticed the heavily bruised split in her lower lip that his admiring ceased and his heart started up again, but for the wrong reason.

She was beaten up.

Along with the split lip, she was covered in bruises, with raw and deep-set purple ones around her wrists and neck.
Her dress, which he concluded was a fairly exotic-looking formal dress, was torn and wrinkled, and had wet patches with darks stains and... Egg shells?

The poor girl even had her earrings ripped out.

Who would do this to you?

When Naruto's breath returned to him he hurried over to her, and as he got close he confirmed it.

They were in fact egg shells.

He frowned heavily and checked her vitals.
Her pulse was slow but strong, so she wasn't in any fatal danger there.
Her breathing was slightly erratic, but that could be due to the pain he could be in. With that bruising, she's got to be...

She might have injuries I can't see.

He had to get her to Konoha.

But first he needed to at least try to wake her.
Let her know that he was going to take her to a hospital, and if she stayed conscious long enough, find out what lowlife did this...

Gently, he placed his non-prosthetic hand on a less-bruised part of her shoulder and began to lightly shake her.

"Hime-sama," He called as he shook her, "Hime-sama, can you hear me? Open your eyes if you can hear me."

There was nothing, no response.

He shook her again.

"Hime-sama!" He said worriedly, voice raised this time.

For a few moments there was silence, and he could hear his own heartbeat in his chest.

Then she murmured.

Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Thank goodness...

"Hima-sama, are you awake? Can you stand?"

Her eyes fluttered but didn't open, when she attempted to move her breath hitched.

"...everything...hurts..." Her soft voice managed to mumble.

"Everything is going to be okay now," Naruto reassured her, "I'm taking you to a hospital."

Before she could say more, he lifted her bridal style into his arms and began his assault towards Konoha.

As he leaped up the cliff and then from tree to tree he watched her, but she was so weak she looked like she would pass out again soon.

"Hime-sama, who did this to you?" He asked not really expecting an answer.

Her eyes fluttered once more and opened. Heavy-lidded she glanced up at him with the most amazing set of golden brown eyes he's ever seen and whispered sadly before passing out once again.
With determination he leaped and ran faster, with the words echoing in his head and filling him with pain.

"I thought they were...my...friends..."

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