A/N: ahaha! I knew I forgot something! Naruto doesn't belong to me and I make no money off this story. The end.

Thanks to readers and reviewers! Three things. One: Right now I'm guessing this will be a no pairings story since I think that works best with the plot. If that changes, I'll give lots of warning. Two: I'll definitely explain the manacles, though it didn't really end up happening in this chapter... sorry about that. Three: Fair warning that this will probably cycle between normal storytelling and something more jumbled because in this story Kyuubi and Naruto have merged enough that in times of great stress or anger, their thoughts fall over one another and sometimes become one. You don't really see that in this chapter, and probably won't for the next few, but if anyone has issues with that sort of thing I wanted you to know right away.

Apparently one of Naruto's hobbies is gardening/watering plants. I figured I'd bring that into this story since a lot of his other hobbies (like training) would be restricted. Short chapter but I needed a transition.

..chapter two..

"How do you do that all day?" Kiba asked, his tone caught somewhere between incredulity and honest curiosity. He lounged on Naruto's couch, feeling overheated in his long-sleeved jacket, even with the furred hood long gone. Shino stood impassively in the corner, his mask off but sunglasses, hood and high collar shielding almost his entire face.

Naruto grinned from across the doorway, his sleeves rolled up and watering can hovering over one of the many plants populating his 'green room.' What had once been a small extra room in his apartment became his miniature greenhouse when the wall and windows had been broken too many times by overzealous villagers. He had installed more windows and left the plants in full view of the sun, and by some strange, unspoken agreement, the villagers had shifted their focus to his bedroom instead. Maybe they avoided attacking one of the few things Naruto obviously cared about, for fear of his retaliation.

Or maybe they just enjoyed looking up to the second storey and seeing the jungle of greens and vivid colors that stood out even on the gloomiest of days.

"It's a hobby," Naruto said by way of explanation, his voice light and amused.

Kiba rolled his eyes, flopping a hand down to Akamaru's massive head where it rested half on the couch and half on his left thigh. "Yeah, but... why? I mean, they're just plants. Doesn't it get boring?"

"Of course not," Naruto replied, letting a leaf trail along his hand. "Plants need all the nurturing they can get, and you know immediately when something's wrong. They don't hide or lie. They just need love and care and that's it."

Kiba snorted. "Kinda sentimental for a weed." But his tone was not cruel, and he continued to watch. Naruto just laughed at him but did not bother responding, and the apartment fell into silence. Kiba tapped his right foot idly, shifting to look at what he could see of the living room from his sprawl. The place was surprisingly kept up considering how old the building was. He didn't know if Naruto had lived there his entire life, but he suspected he couldn't have. The walls remained fairly empty and the building was one of the oldest in Konoha, but also in the worst condition. It was not a health hazard, but it was hardly the sort of home to be proud of.

"Hinata has been speaking of you." Shino's voice was unexpected enough that Kiba and Naruto both looked over at him immediately. His expression remained unchanged, though he turned in Naruto's direction. "What would you like me to tell her?"

Naruto blinked at him, and abruptly set the watering can down before he could accidentally over-water anything in his distraction. "Uh, that I'm fine?" He rubbed the back of his head with one hand, looking sheepish. "Did she want something?"

Shino shrugged and said nothing.

Kiba twitched his foot a little harder. "I think she's been worried since that Ayame thing." He glanced at Naruto sidelong. "You know anything about that?"

"No idea," Naruto said, and his voice was a little harsher than he intended it to be. Kiba watched him carefully while Shino could have been asleep against the wall for all Naruto could tell. He paused, then looked away and started watering his plants again. "She'll be found."

"Yeah, but--"

"Naruto!"

He dropped the can onto the table at the sudden voice, his stomach clenching as he recognized who it was. It couldn't be anything good if--

"Sakura?" Kiba stared at her as he twisted to look over the back of the couch. "What--?"

But she wasn't listening. She jumped the rest of the way through the window and strode immediately toward Naruto, her expression grim and frightened. "They found her, Naruto! They found Ayame. She's dead." At his widened eyes, she quickened her pace and grabbed his arm, glancing distractedly over her shoulder. "Listen, you have to--!"

"Step away."

The apartment seemed almost claustrophobic with all the people suddenly appearing in it. Seven ANBU guards, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Akamaru and Naruto crowded the living room, the impassive masks all tilted in Naruto's direction. He noted distractedly that Fuki's bear mask was not among them, but beyond that, he could only stare in shock with a faint sense of horror curling inside. Something heated awoke and shifted in him, the presence of the Kyuubi that he felt like warm ramen resting in his stomach in the dead of winter.

Sakura tilted slightly so she was between Naruto and several of the ANBU. "Seven?" she asked with narrowed eyes and a challenge in her voice, "Isn't that a bit much?"

"Step away from the Beast," a second ANBU said, his tone brooking no argument.

"He didn't do it!" Sakura protested, tightening her grip almost painfully on Naruto's elbow. "I already spoke to the Hokage--he was guarded at the time by--"

"His chakra is not completely suppressed. Those 'guards' could have easily been transformed shadow clones."

Sakura refused to move, her green eyes darkened with anger as she tightened her grip. Naruto could not resist a slight intake of breath at the pressure.

"Are you planning to follow your master's footsteps so faithfully?" a fourth ANBU asked her coolly, voice muffled behind the puma mask.

Sakura grit her teeth. "He wouldn't hurt--!"

"Sakura." Naruto's soft voice cut into the argument, and she looked back at him, startled. He was smiling, his eyes closed and mouth stretched wide, but she saw how much of a lie the expression was. Narrowing her own eyes, she prepared to argue with him, but he placed a hand lightly on hers. "It's okay. I was getting bored in my apartment anyway."

"Naruto..."

Laughing, Naruto shook his head and pulled away, his bright blue eyes opening enough to look at her. "You're always getting so concerned, Sakura. It'll be fine. The Hokage'll find the real killer and then I'll be back." He paused, grinning. "My plants won't need to be watered for a few days now anyway. I'd have nothing to do."

She watched him with far more emotion in her eyes than he was showing back, but she finally stepped back with a nod. The ANBU moved in immediately, surrounding him until nothing could be seen behind the black and white of their uniforms.

The woman with the puma mask tilted her head in Sakura's direction, a glare audible in her firm tone. "Report to the Hokage immediately," she said, and looked in Shino and Kiba's direction so they knew the command pertained to them as well. She seemed to linger on the Kiba's presence, but it was hard to tell.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, her fists clenching, but she tilted her head down in a nod and stayed that way until the ANBU disappeared with Naruto. She was quiet a moment, then suddenly strode forward and punched the wall furiously. "Damnit!" she hissed, and cracks spread out from the impact. "God damnit!" She reared back and punched once more, her fist pushing halfway through with plaster falling in a shower around her. She laid her other arm against the wall and leaned her head against it, her light pink hair covering her expression.

The room was silent behind her. The ANBU had only been there for a few brief minutes so Kiba and Shino had not even moved, but Sakura's heavy breathing was quickly making the room uncomfortable. Kiba glanced toward Shino, who only pushed himself away from the wall, his hands placed idly in his pockets. Standing himself, Kiba looked in Sakura's direction and shifted uneasily on his feet. He never really knew what to do with upset women. Hinata constantly seemed upset, but it was more of a shy-thing with her. Sakura always seemed to be blazing with emotions--appropriate, he supposed, since she'd been teamed with the mercurial Naruto and moody Sasuke--and times like this, he didn't even know what was appropriate to say.

Finally, he stepped up behind her with Akamaru hovering at his side, and placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. She tensed but did not shrug him away, and belatedly he thanked the fact that she was not feeling more violent. Touching her could have been a damn fool thing to do; the woman broke streets for fun anymore.

"Let's go," he said quietly, and when she nodded the slightest bit against her arm, he dropped his hand and stepped away. She avoided eye contact with either of them as they went to leave, but Kiba noticed her scowl as she eyed the glass littering Naruto's bedroom, and the fact that the window had obviously been broken before. She paused, digging around in his laundry pile for a moment, managing to mostly avoid the glass shards.

They gingerly climbed onto the windowsill ("I don't want to leave his apartment unlocked," Sakura had insisted after Kiba glanced at the front door) and just before they left, Sakura took the time to tie a dirty towel she found over the window. It would do little but shade the bedroom and keep out anything like a sudden rain, but it was all she could do until she could return later and fix the window herself.

For the moment, she felt she was at least affording him some privacy. Even if he was nowhere near to appreciate it.

- - -

Self-doubt swirled around him, and though Naruto had no troubles keeping up with the ANBU, he found himself compulsively going over his memories of the night when Ayame disappeared. Did he remember blanking out at all? Was there a wavering in his memories, a moment when he could have done something unthinkingly and covered it up later in his own mind to protect himself? He remembered...

--Ami and Kenji were standing in opposite corners of the room, watching him. They were silent, completely silent like they always were, and every time he so much as twitched, he could feel their gazes intensifying--

..He was just sitting there, and nothing was happening, and even when he tried to talk to them, they said nothing. He was used to it with those two... Used to it with all of them but Fuki, who actually sneered at him sometimes and pulled her mask off to glare..

--play cards?" he asked, but the only reaction he got was Ami crossing her arms and moving her feet apart obstinately, and on some level he was annoyed. Would it kill them to just say, 'No thanks,' for once?--

..It was a breach of protocol. Those masks were there for a reason, to hide their identity and keep them safe, but Fuki did it anyway. He didn't understand why; she didn't even like him, but somehow she understood that sometimes he just needed to see a human face, an actual human face, instead of the impassive animal masks staring back from their silent corners..

--And, yes, there was a point right there, right after his third game of Solitaire and before he started babbling something about summer--he felt a surge of chakra somewhere, and Kenji straightened but otherwise gave no reaction, and when Naruto looked toward Ami, all he saw was her wildcat mask glaring back--

..Sometimes, deliriously, he wondered if they had a fox mask too, wondered if they were going to weld it onto his head some day and shove a collar on him and drag him around by a chain. The Beast, the Beast, look at the Beast, they'd say, and he would stumble along on two feet when they wanted him on four, and it would be all he could do to keep up, giving him no chance to save his dignity..

--Or ramen? Was it ramen he was talking about there, not the summer? Was the chakra from somewhere else, or was it from him? Had he unthinkingly said he wanted ramen and somehow--he had so much chakra and some days it felt he did things on accident, performed jutsu unknowingly even if he knew it was impossible --he made a shadow clone that went to get food? Had Kenji straightened because he knew--he knew--what Naruto did but couldn't prove it? And somewhere, Ayame hesitated at his clone's approach, and maybe they were out of miso ramen, maybe there were too many villagers around and they couldn't serve him, and he retaliated--red chakra and slit pupils and claws that could rip--

Someone pushed him from behind, and Naruto stumbled before he caught himself. The room was tiny and dark, in the depths of Hokage Mountain where no one would find his body for decades if he died. Just a skeleton gleaming in the dark, and would he have fangs, or would he finally be totally human at that point? When all chakra and muscle and seals were stripped away and all that remained were the bones beneath his skin?

"Chain him," someone said, but it was already being taken care of. His hands were stretched out on either side, hooked to the wall so he had enough slack to sag against the ground but could not possibly bring his hands together to form any seals. His ankles were shackled to the ground with smaller chains and heavy manacles they kept in that room. In that position, he was barely able to stand and would not be able to move even without his hands caught on the wall.

At least I can sit, he thought a bit deliriously, the first coherent thought that always entered his mind when chained in that room. Somehow it was important, that he could sit. Maybe because then it let him sleep, except sleep never truly came in the suffocating darkness with only his own paranoia and the demon within him for company.

ANBU guards outside the doorway, but even if he screamed in terror they never came.

He knew, because he'd done it before.

He knew, because one time, one of them had only laughed.

His wide eyes were darting around the room without him even realizing it, but he said nothing. Enough times with similar results, and even Uzumaki Naruto knew when to be quiet. He took in a deep breath and did his best to relax against the cold, uneven wall, but he knew it would be a long night. Or day. Or week, or whatever they planned, and how long would they keep him here this time? It was just a girl, just a girl from Ichiraku, surely they wouldn't keep him here longer than other times? And no, did he seriously think that? Because all life was important and she always used to smile at him, but the darkness was heavy and--and she was just a girl, just a girl, surely it wouldn't touch on the two months he'd spent after--

"You brought this on yourself," a woman's cool voice murmured before the guards--pale white faces gleaming in the dark, like the skeleton he would eventually become, but they wore so much black that they floated and all they had were demon heads that stared impassively from the shadows--stepped out and the door swung heavily closed. The locks were turned and the bar made an echoing thud as it fell into place. The shadows hung like fog around him, and all he could see through the tiny barred window at the top of the door was a glaring white mask; expressionless, pitiless, and entirely inhuman.

Naruto drew in a deep breath, held it inside where he did his best to tell himself it was giving him strength and sanity, and slid his eyes closed. Just as dark behind his eyelids as it was with eyes wide open, but he needed the control. Told himself it was this way on purpose. His eyes were closed, so of course it was black. He had chosen it to be this way. If he opened his eyes, there would be light and laughter and a steaming bowl of ramen in front of him, and Iruka-sensei would be at his side slurping noodles with him--

Brought it on himself, and suddenly he was glad for the inhuman masks, because at least they covered that glint in their eyes (that damn, cold, uncaring glint he'd come to hate since childhood) that people got when they looked at him or spoke of him or--

Brought it on himself, and it was true.

He'd brought this all on himself the moment he attacked the Fifth Hokage.

To be continued...