Let me first apologize for the previous chapters. They were written while I was suffering from a sinus infection that went to my eyes and made my vision go in and out. They are proof of why it is not safe to write fanfiction when ill. I'm currently on my way to recovery and after a few hours of deliberation have decided not to delete this. I'm too lazy to do a rewrite, but characters should be more like themselves after this chapter. Hopefully.

Chapter 4: Midnight Visitor

I sighed as I lay on my bed looking up at the ceiling a few days later.

My mother had, upon hearing what had happened, insisted we leave that instant and not show up the next morning. Despite my attempts to argue, my mother was still the queen, and therefore, I had to listen to her.

However, since the meetings, there had been no attacks. No threats. So my mother had decided to move on with the coronation ceremony as planned. It was to happen next week.

As talented as I was at hiding it, a few had noticed my nerves. I received more reassuring smiles and helpful glances than usual. It was comforting in a way. I stopped pacing my room, noting the place of the moon in the sky. I needed to sleep. I went to bed, albeit reluctantly, afraid of what would come in my dreams.

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First I was in a field; bodies were falling around me. My brother was defending me. Then, he took a hit, and another, and another. He still stood, in front of me. Protecting me. When he fell, no one else on the field was alive. I caught him as he fell. His life blood running freely onto the ground. I knew it was not proper, but the tears fell anyway. My brother wiped them away with a laugh.

"Never show emotions little brother. They will only be used against you in the end, as mine were."

With that, my brother's eyes changed from red to black and closed.

I wanted to stay there and grieve, but the dreams didn't want to stop. I whirled forward a few years to a day when I had run onto the fields looking for my father. I knew as I ran that I probably wouldn't find him, but I wanted to so desperately.

I was searching frantically. My guards tried to stop me, telling me it was dangerous still, not safe. I did not listen. I just kept looking.

I found my father, and he was not alone, an enemy warrior was with him, having just landed the final blow to my father. His gaze fell on me, and he licked his lips. Fear claimed me, before I knew I had, I had grabbed my father's fall sword and plunged it into the other man killing him instantly.

When my guards found me covered in blood, they were afraid that I had been hurt. They were even more scared when they learned that none of the blood was my own. They looked at the man I had killed. He was a high ranking official in the enemy's army. People had been trying to kill him for months.

They said it was an accomplishment. They said it was amazing, but to me it was only red, raw pain.

The red kept spinning, swirling, and then Naruto Uzamaki was before me.

I was in no mood to tolerate him. I answered the apparition harshly," What are you doing here?"

"I would think you would know that." The voice replied quietly.

I never would have been able to do so in the real world, but here, I had no problem expressing exactly how I felt. "Why can't you all just leave me alone!" I said sharply. "I don't want to be haunted by these images. I don't want this. I want it to stop."

"If I knew how to stop it, I already would have. Please meet me at the keep. This should get you in." Something was pressed into my hand as he pulled forward. Our lips met and i felt is tongue run over my lips, begging for entrance, something that i, in my disoriented stae did not refuse.He began to thoroughly explore my mouth, and I, deciding thatI should be able to have just as much fun, shot my tongue into his. The exploration was cut short by the fact that, like all humns, we had to breathe some time. He gave a light laugh and said to consider his offer. As he left the room, the dream also began to fade, as a new one began.

This one was again filled with red.

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Days passed in a blur, blending together one into the next, until it was the night two days before the ceremony. I was searching my room for a missing shoe. I had just crawled under my bed and was happy to find the missing article, but I also noticed a small glint of metal. It was a ring.

I grabbed the ring and slid out form under my bed. I looked at the ring in shock as I studied it. It was a man's ring. A gold band, with a blue stone. I instantly recognized the design. It was a signet ring of the Uzamaki family. How'd it get under my bed?

Instantly my brain flashed back to the dream I'd had days ago. What if it wasn't a dream? I shook my head at thought. It wasn't possible. If that was true, then I had…

I tried not to think about it. Then I realized something important. If it had been true, if Naruto had really requested I come to his kingdom, what would he have thought when I did not come?

He would have had to think that I refused his offer to find a way to piece. He would be forced to therefore take the next action that could quickly end the war, the death of my mother and me. I couldn't let that happen. I had to get to Uzamaki, and soon.

I moved the sword on my wall to my bed, an old symbol from my childhood. This way, Neji would know I had left willingly and would return. Hopefully, he would restrain himself form chasing after me for a while.

I quickly went through my clothes looking for something that I could travel in easily, and I was about to grab my small dagger when I realized that if I was going in peace, I would have to go unarmed. I placed the dagger back down on the dresser top.

How I managed to get to the stables unseen is a mystery even to me, but I was on the road to Uzamaki that night. With any luck, I would reach the keep by midmorning.

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Time to get the ball rolling.