Hello there darlings! If you here visiting and have read my Nalu story I thank you for trying this puppy out, and if you are new to my writing then Welcome, and I also thank you for taking a chance on me!

This is my typical one-shot that I really think would make a fantastic chaptered story, I do have some more written, but I'm interested to see what some people think! This is of course a Naruto fic, but I have added elements of a favorite series of mine called His Dark Materials! If you haven't read the books or seen the show, I highly recommend.

Thank you for listening to my rant, please enjoy my tale.

Creds for sure go to the great Masashi Kishimoto and Philip Pullman

Prologue

"Get down!"

The warning was followed by a boom that shook the ground, and Kakashi Hatake grunted as he was thrown to his knees amongst the rubble.

Trees and rocks were ripped from the earth as everything exploded upward, creating a cloud so heavy with debris that without his sharingan he would've been blind to the battle less than 5 yards away. It had come down to Sasuke and one of Orochimaru's head minions; an ex-swordsman of the mist whose blades crackled with arcs of electricity. The troops on both sides were worn down to almost nothing, most escaping back to their respective villages, injured but alive, on the orders of their commanding officers. Both sides knew that this was a war of attrition, and to lose a large chunk of one's soldiers in a measly border skirmish was foolish.

The youngest Uchiha, well-known for his speed, moved so fast that not even the Thunderswords could touch him as he darted around the blood-soaked clearing. Whoever had set the bomb off mistakenly played to his advantage, and the collapsing pine trees provided the perfect cover for him to get closer to his opponent. A flare of chakra and the Chidori was activated, screeching to life around his left hand as he lunged.

"You all won't live to see the next sunrise. Orochimaru will win! Konoha will be-" Raiga's words were cut short by the hole that was punched through her sternum, the energy he'd gathered cauterizing as it went, and Sasuke was left standing with his arm elbow-deep in her chest, their eyes locked as her last breath rattled away. His face looked as surprised as hers and he stumbled backwards, desperately wrenching his arm free so she could collapse to the ground. His sharingan had disappeared with the killing blow, and he watched with black eyes as her body crumpled, a doll with its strings cut.

Kakashi forced himself to his feet, muscles and various wounds screaming at him all the while, the companion at his side following closely, and began to hobble his way over to his student. Most of the remaining soldiers had cleared out to make way for the battle, and he knew that without Raiga the rest of Orochimaru's men would scatter. The expression in Sasuke's eyes told him it was good that they were alone, and once he was close enough he clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder.

He said nothing, the touch itself speaking volumes, and they both gazed at the young woman sprawled before them. Her wound was letting off a steady stream of rancid smoke, and he only allowed his pupil another minute to look before he pulled him gently away. Sasuke went willingly, moving like a zombie, and Kakashi exchanged a nervous look with the cat at his side.

"Niobe, scout ahead please. Let whoever stayed know that this one is ours, and it's over. Hopefully word will reach the Hokage before she comes storming over here herself." The long furred tabby twitched her tail in acknowledgment of the order as she turned around and stalked off, mumbling choice words to herself along the way. While he'd been speaking, Sasuke's own daemon had emerged from the shadows and pressed herself into his side, shoulders nudging at him until he dug his fingers into her spotted fur. All tension immediately drained from the teen's shoulders, and a rumbling purr filled the silence in response. The long-legged cheetah was as silent as her human, unlike Kakashi's own daemon, and her amber eyes gave nothing away as she took in the carnage surrounding them.

"I know this doesn't seem like much, but it's a win. Not only did we get back part of this forest, but it distracted the troops long enough for Itachi to get what we needed." Kakashi knew he was babbling, something he never did, but the darkness in Sasuke's eyes lightened a little bit as he spoke, and so he would keep on filling the silence until they got to the village. Until they had to cut away their own emotions and put up a facade for the terrified civilians they were trying to protect.

Itachi, it turns out, was finding that his mission was going rather sour.

He had infiltrated Orochimaru's underground sanctuary with ease, whispering past incompetent guards and doe-eyed maintenance workers, only to discover the Sannin himself camped out at the inner core with a dozen or so elite Ninja. If not for the fact that this mission was strictly covert, the eldest Uchiha might have just flung himself into the fray and taken his chances. He had a particular dislike for the Traitor daring to target his little brother, and once you were on his list there was only one way off.

'Plan ruined. Orochimaru staked out. Orders?' Itachi scratched the words onto a small scroll that he vanished with a few silent hand signals, then waited. He was nestled among the high rafters, swathed in darkness, and kept his Sharingan deactivated to avoid the risk of someone noticing its light.

Minutes later his forearm burned, signaling a response. He pulled up his sleeve to glance at the message branded into his skin, the letters white-hot: 'Continue with mission. Battle is over. Sent Gai and Lee for distraction.' Once he had read it all the message faded away like it had never been, and a large explosion rocked the underground facility mere seconds later.

The entire compound shuddered violently, filling with dust and smoke, and Orochimaru's hissing voice shouted orders above the cacophony. "Go! Go! Our informant was wrong about the infiltration, they must have won the skirmish and decided to push their luck." His words were filled with menace, as well as a satisfying touch of panic, and followed closely by the receding steps of his soldiers.

Itachi stayed stock still in the ensuing silence and dared to activate his sharingan only when the sounds of battle could be heard at the entrance; Might Guy and Rock Lee's distinctive tones were hard to miss. The world became sharp, time seemed to slow, and he was able to peer between each dust mote as he searched for any remaining body. When his search turned up negative he leaped from his perch, landing soundlessly in front of a heavy vault door, and studied an intricate lock that only a special kind of key could open. A small smirk broke the emotionless mask the Uchiha always wore as he pulled out a heavy golden ring. The surface was pockmarked with random jewels and scarred by deep lines, a rather ugly looking piece of jewelry, but it fit like a glove into the door's narrow opening. A quiet click signified success, and solid stone swung silently inward on well-maintained hinges.

For such a big entrance the room was rather small, about the size of a walk-in closet, and held only two medium shelves, both shoved against opposite walls, and a rickety wooden pedestal in the center. The shelves were filled with various objects that were no doubt valuable, but the ANBU's eyes were glued to the glowing egg that sat upon the pedestal. Its surface was rigid from iridescent scales, each one seeming to shimmer with different hues of green, yellow, bronze and blue. The room had no light source of its own, was lit well-enough by the egg's soft light, and he found it to be as warm as any living thing when his fingertips touched a single silky scale. Itachi could scarcely believe they had actually succeeded as he hefted the egg up from its resting place, intrigued by how deceptively heavy it was.

A flare of chakra was his only warning before a rain of kunai came at him from behind, forcing him back against the wall in order to dodge. His mask was firmly back in place, but anger burned in his gaze and his tomoe whirled menacingly at the sight of Orochimaru himself in the doorway.

"I should've known Tsunade would send a little rat to scurry behind my back, and steal my treats." Hissed words were touched by the madness reflected in his gaze, and a long tongue emerged to wet cracked lips. "It's over, Uchiha. You will never win, but it will have to be over my dead body if you wish to use that."

The tomoe's of Itachi's eyes swirled hypnotically, and he acted like the Sannin wasn't even there as he took a slow step back and returned the egg to the pedestal. In the next instant he moved so fast as to be only a blur, hands coming together into the signs he knew well, and had used only minutes before. Orochimaru realized too late what was happening and he lunged forward with a hoarse cry, arms extended desperately as his most prized possession disappeared with a muffled puff of air.

Chapter 1

"...Are you sure you're doing it right? The lotus took longer than usual to dissolve and the book said it should be lilac by now...but to me it looks more like a light violet…"

Rowan Mayfair swore she could feel the aneurysm forming as she struggled to tune her youngest brother out, teeth clenched tight as she gave three more precise counter-clockwise stirs to the concoction before her. It was, in fact, a bright Lilac, smelled of buttered toast, and was bubbling gently from the flame she'd maintained underneath. Once she'd finished stirring she removed it from the heat, and less than five seconds into cooling it turned a sudden, startling shade of orange that made both her and Cadmen sigh in relief.

"Told you I could do it! If that's not the nicest joint relief potion you've ever seen then you're blind!" She grinned at her brother and pushed her glasses up her nose before reaching for a silver ladle that was used to divide the potion into small phials.

"We're going to get over four hundred from this batch, plus another hundred for what Trace took out earlier, so we should be good for this month. Dad'll be so stoked!" Cadmen returned her glee, both fist pumping the air and high fiving once everything was corked.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence" she joked before nudging him towards his room "Now hurry up and finish getting ready for school. I'm taking you this morning, then I'm going to find myself some more ingredients, and you know that it's best to start picking before the fog burns off." Rowan had barely finished her sentence before he was off like a bullet, his daemon's tail whipping through the air as she clung onto his broad shoulders for dear life.

Ten minutes later they exited the small two bedroom shack that they called home, making sure to bolt the heavy chain across the front door before setting out. Despite the fact that he was younger Cadmen towered over her five foot three inch stature at a solid six feet two inches, and had golden hair to combat her dark brown. He was burly for his age, had grown so fast over a short period that he often gave the impression of a bumbling grizzly that didn't know how to handle its own bulk. His Daemon, on the other hand, was the epitome of stunning and graceful. A confusing dichotomy when faced with her rough looking brother.

Rhea was a cloud Ocelot; her silky fur dotted with the distinctive white pattern for which her species was named, and jeweled eyes of a verdant green dominated an elegantly angled face. Those eyes watched everything and missed nothing, her long tail curled around Cadmen's neck as she continued to perch on his shoulder. Silent even for a daemon, Rhea would off and on bend to whisper some unintelligible thing into Cadmen's ear that would elicit some reaction; whether it be amusement or befuddlement...or a sharp gleam of intelligence that most people didn't realize her brother possessed.

Thankfully they found the walk to be uneventful and the streets empty this early in the morning. Since the Fall about 50 years ago, when decades of endless war succeeded in plunging the world into a new dark age, a simple jaunt to school was no longer so simple and was not to be taken lightly. Rowan herself always felt like a crazed owl when she went into town, turning her head every which way with wide eyes while a cocktail of fear and adrenaline constantly pumped through her veins.

No longer were there such things as nice neighborhoods or ghettos, high class or low class. All that was left was rubble, half destroyed cities and the survivors that populated them. Most of the ones that were left wanted to take what you had for themselves, and the remaining wanted to kill you for it. When they reached the padlocked steel doors of an abandoned warehouse only a handful knew as "School" she released a sigh of relief and took one last searching look around before knocking three times, then two, then six in a distinctly musical beat. Seconds later a hooded sentry emerged from around the corner, rifle resting against his shoulder, and he moved to unlock the doors with fluid speed. No one spoke a word, and she had only enough time to quickly squeeze Cadmen in a hug before he was gone and the doors were sealed. Hiding him away from the world and finally eliminating the fear that tightened her chest. Nodding in thanks to the faceless sentry, Rowan turned on her booted heel then proceeded to walk directly west into the large wall of fog that she and Cadmen had skirted around on their earlier route.

Most would slow or hesitate when they couldn't see an inch in front of their face, but the young woman strode on with a confidence that spoke to the many years she had walked the same path; rain or shine, night or day, until she swore she could feel her feet falling into the imprints of footsteps from times past. Not long into her stroll Rowan hit the tree line acting as a border to the sprawling forest that had taken over this part of the world. Greenery creeping in with a vengeance only mother nature could exhibit.

Her Father had told her stories of his childhood, how the city had once dominated the landscape to such a degree that people became concerned that there would be no more trees. Such outlandish tales had seemed too surreal to believe, but since getting older she had read the old textbooks that still remained, laminated pages showing image after image of what her Father had always whispered of. The sheer volume of people that there had been was what amazed her, and she thought that maybe it wasn't such a surprise civilization had collapsed under the weight of itself.

Once the verdant green canopy loomed overhead and the ground beneath her feet felt peaty, Rowan was able to finally draw a clean, true breath, muscles going loose as she basked in the momentary freedom. This was her domain, and she felt unstoppable here. The haunting loneliness that always pulled at her, made her bleed endless rivers of invisible red, felt alleviated here. A balm to the soul that some didn't believe she had, because they couldn't see it at her side.

The day she'd been born the midwife and her assistant fainted from terror at the visage of a squaling, healthy baby without a Daemon in sight. Of course the experienced midwife had seen births where the child didn't have their companion, their soul, but every single time that child was stillborn. When her mother died mere days later it only confirmed the suspicions that Rowan Blackwood was cursed, and to be in her Daemon-less presence was to court the same misfortune that loomed over the family.

"Cursed my ass. If anybody bothered to pay attention they would notice our misfortune is no different than anybody else's" she grumbled to herself as she knelt at the base of a towering oak tree. Pulling out clumps of mushrooms yet leaving enough behind so they could grow back as plentiful as before.

Bird song started to echo more clearly through the trees as the muffling fog began to burn off, and just as the first ray of sunlight broke through to highlight Rowan's work a loud pop cut through the avian chorus. Waves of energy rippled as the very fabric of space and time twisted and bent. Blinding white light hid what fell through, but the accompanying thud meant whatever it was had weight to it. Everything ended as quickly as it had begun, a mere blink, and not even the birds seemed bothered as they resumed their song; leaving Rowan the only one stunned as she lay sprawled on the ground with wide eyes.

It took a few moments for the spots to fade and allow Rowan to properly gape at the large, colorful egg resting at her feet. Bigger than her head and dazzling in the sunlight, she simply stared at it in silence for a few seconds before giving the hard shell a nudge with her booted toe. Nothing interesting occurred other than a predictable roll to the side, and she decided it was safe enough to sit up and investigate.

Fear and caution fought tooth and nail with her powerful curiosity as she leaned in closer to get a better look, nose almost touching the hard carapace. Rowan forced herself to wait a few more painful minutes before finally reaching forward and lifting the egg from the ground. Nothing continued to happen as she tilted it this way and that for her perusal, testing the weight, a low hum of intrigue escaping her throat when she realized the surface was rigid because it was covered in dozens of scales so soft to the touch that she had never before felt its like.

"Where did you come from, little one?" She murmured softly, knowing deep down inside that whatever was inside was definitely alive. Despite the lack of movement inside the surface was extremely warm to the touch and even bordered on hot, like the surface of a recently used stovetop. Just as the comparison popped up in her brain the silky smooth surface became white hot and she yelped in both pain and surprise, attempting to drop the egg only to find her fingers fused to the surface, unable to let go no matter how hard she tried. Rowan fell to her knees as agony arced through what felt like every nerve ending she possessed while the temperature continued to rise higher and higher, until she was sure there would be no skin left, and a distant part of her brain wondered why she couldn't smell any burning flesh.

That was the last conscious thought Rowan had before everything went blank.

If anyone had been there to witness the event they would've seen a young woman clutching what appeared to be an egg shaped sun, and if you were to get even closer you would see the energy that flowed into the woman from where she gripped the ball of light. Filling her to the brim until the light in her hands was reflected in her eyes, in her skin, and pulsed through her veins. Tendrils of it seeped from her pores and, like they had a mind of their own, snaked as quick as lightning to the parts of her yet untouched, spearing through hair, through the threads of clothing. Her mouth opened on a silent scream as she was fully covered and the egg, still clutched in her grasp, hidden by the radiance it produced, split open with a resounding crack; letting loose a wave of such powerful energy that the nearby trees were cut in half with scalpel-like precision.

All animals in a mile radius, especially the prey, stopped and shuddered at the primordial energy rolling through the air...and took careful note of the new presence in their midst.