Day of The Full Moon

Kurenai was running.

Her legs sprinting as fast as they could as she chased after a darkened silhouette. Darkness surrounded her, almost engulfing her entire body as she ran forward. Periodically she would reach out to the figure she was trailing, anytime she would get close her hand would phase right through it, like it was a mirage. But then it would get faster, it's footsteps echoing in the abyss as she forced her legs to keep up with the apparition. She didn't know why she was chasing it, or who it was. But she knew she had too, something about it's alluring presence had struck a chord within the red-eyed beauty, and she refused to let it leave her sight, in fear of it vanishing completely.

She didn't know how far she ran, or where exactly she was running too. The only thing that plagued her mind was the figure, she wanted to grab hold of it. Hold it close to her, she wanted to run her hands through the blackened out spiky hair as she held it tight. Making sure it knew that it wasn't alone, that Kurenai would be there for it, forever.

These thoughts had manifested long ago, before she was even aware that these feelings were dormant in her. The figure's face remained a mystery still, shielding her from the impossible truth that she didn't know she could believe, that she didn't know she should believe. She ignored the heavy sweat beading down her brow as she called out to the figure, her voice desperate for it to stop, desperate for just a single moment of clarity.

Panic had started to set in her body as she watched the black figure grow further away from her, it's body almost indistinguishable as it blended in with the darkened void of nothingness. She called out again, her voice hoarse, begging the figure to wait for her, tears erupted in her eyes as her arm reached out in hopelessness, agony pumping in her veins as she cried out.

Suddenly Kurenai watched as the figure stopped it's run, turning around as two deep cerulean eyes looked back at her, torment etched into those beautiful blue irises as tears streamed down the desolate face. Kurenai felt her heart dance in her chest, like a loud drum banging in her ribcage as her own tears cascaded down her cheeks. The closer she got more of the previous vacant face she could see, every little detail sent tremors up her spine. She forced her voice to speak, her voice laced with unsung desire as a certain name ripped itself free from her throat.

"Naruto-kun!"

Kurenai yelled as she gasped for air, her body springing up from her bed as she huffed loudly. She instinctively raised her hand to her face, the palms of her hands shielding her face trying to get her surprisingly heavy breathing under control. Her mind slowly piecing together all her thoughts. From Narumi's unconscious body, Naruto's scratched headband, and his spinning sharingan as he looked at her. She felt her hands get wet as tears leaked from her red eyes as she forced them shut. She knew what it had ment, but she didn't want to believe it. She would have never thought Naruto would ever do something like this. It hurt, her heart felt like it was on fire, burning her very skin to charcoal. She wanted to run after him, yell at him for doing this, she was angry. She felt betrayed.

"I'm glad to see that you're finally awake."

Kurenai snapped her head over as she heard a voice speak to her. Looking over she laid her eyes upon the heavily bandaged Narumi Namikaze. She was sitting on the edge of a window, using her knee to hold her head up as she stared out the bedroom window looking up at the darkening sky above their heads. Narumi didn't turn to look at her, she instead continued to look outwards as she spoke. Kurenai stared at the red-head with a critical eye, her ruby orbs narrowing ever so slightly at the girl. She couldn't help but notice the weak look in her pensive stare, one she had never seen before the longer she stared at the heiress. Her lips were pursed in a thin line, even her voice seemed to lack the vigor that it once held.

Narumi ignored the jounin's lingering gaze on her, leaning her head against the closed window with her eyes shut.

"You've been out for about 10 days, we were beginning to get worried."

Kurenai blinked in surprise at her words, tearing her eyes off of Narumi and looking down at the blanket over her. She clenched her hands around the fabric, "Regardless, do you know why Naruto-kun did this?" Kurenai asked, cutting to the chase as she kept her vision locked onto her hands. A tense silence rolled into the room and Kurenai found herself getting irritated at the girl's secrecy.

"I think you know exactly what happened."

"Don't beat around the bush here!" Kurenai yelled, snapping her head back over to Narumi's direction. Kurenai scowled, finding herself growing more and more irritated at the girl's withdrawn attitude.

Narumi covered up her frown with her arm, refusing to look in Kurenai's direction. Narumi gave a slow nod of her head, wishing she could be anywhere else but here.

"Yes."

"...Then? Care to explain?!"

Kurenai said irritably, digging her nails into the soft fabric beneath her fingers. Narumi sighed deeply, she was in no mood to talk about what happened, it was still very much fresh on her mind and wanted to avoid the topic at all costs. Or at least wait until they get back to Konoha. Narumi turned her body towards Kurenai, and it was the first time the black headed beauty noticed the cast over Narumi's arm.

"When I found him he was talking to a masked man, who I assume was their leader. I didn't hear the whole thing, just bits and pieces, but he said something about delivering someone named Kise in exchange for information, but he would have to become a missing nin." Narumi looked down, still refusing to look into Kurenai's eyes. The red-eyes jounin felt her eyes sting, she just couldn't get the crying image of Naruto out of her face as he put her under with his doujutsu. It was haunting, something she wasn't sure she would ever forget.

"He said if Naruto-nii refused, he would reveal all of his secrets, and…"

Kurenai felt her body tense as the word secrets left Narumi's mouth. She quickly masked her expression, thankful Narumi didn't seem to notice or mention it.

There was a brief pause before Narumi continued, the red-head finally looked over at her. Her blue eyes flashing with an unknown emotion as the two stared at one another. Narumi's voice wavered as she spoke, her lips were chapped, her face still pale from her injuries. Kurenai slightly wondered if the Kyuubi inside of her was even healing her wounds.

"He said if Naruto-nii didn't go, then you would have been killed."

Kurenai's breath hitched as the words left the scarred lips of Narumi. She felt her blood run cold as the words marinated in her thoughts. Naruto abandoned the village, left everything behind….for her sake. She felt the foreign feeling invade her chest again like it had in her dream, but this time it was much more prominent. The feelings struck at every vein in her body forcing her to physically wince at the feeling. She fought back the uncontrollable anguish stinging in her eyes as she sat hunched over in her bed.

Narumi watched the jounin for a few moments before hopping off the window seal and making her way to the front door. She silently grabbed the door handle before taking a single glance back at Kurenai, her eyes remained emotionless but there was a small spark of sadness reflecting in her orbs. It was obvious she was hurting, and she didn't know what Naruto and Kurenai's relationship was. She knew Naruto held Kurenai on a special pedestal than most people, she had overheard many conversations the two of them had during their trip, and even when she was working alongside Team 11.

But watching the jounin shake slightly in her bed she couldn't help but pity Kurenai slightly. Narumi held a great amount of empathy towards Kurenai at this moment, the red-head was still in fact blaming Naruto's defection on their own family. They refused to love him, they refused a family with Naruto. But watching Kurenai, who was more heartbroken at Naruto's defection than herself.

It was yet another reminder that she never had Naruto as a brother.

"I...I'm going to check with Kagami-san to see if he needs help with anything. I'll just...leave you alone for a bit."

Narumi spoke softly, her eyes now shining with unconditional sadness as she left the room, the door slightly echoing in the quiet room as Narumi walked away. The soft tone of her voice did nothing to comfort Kurenai as she trembled in bed, leaving the jounin in a defeated state.

"I'm sorry."

Naruto and Kise walked side by side as they passed through the evergreen forest of Takigakure. Once the two of them finally left Roka town the boatman was kind enough to take them closer to Lightning Country and dropped them off at a port just a few days out from the waterfall village. They had little to no trouble passing into the border of Taki, Naruto had used a genjutsu to cover up his slashed out headband so people wouldn't get suspicious of him, it seemed to work better than he was hoping it would.

Naruto figured that Narumi and Kurenai hadn't made it back to Konoha, so his status as a missing nin wasn't official so it gave him and his young companion an easier and more relaxed travel through Taki. The two companies hadn't spoken much during their travels through the small country. Naruto could tell she didn't trust him, afterfall he was a complete stranger to the girl. Kise jumped in fear whenever there was a semi loud noise off in the distance and would blindly look down and cower behind the blonde.

He slightly wondered what had happened to Kise for her to be so jumpy.

The mystery was still at large since Naruto by any means didn't feel like asking, they were both keeping each other at a distance. When she was scared she would hide behind Naruto, but other than that they were always a good distance away from one another, basking in the uncomfortable awkward silence. She listened to his instructions well and was a big help for setting up camp, she would listen without barking back and was always quick to finish her job, something Naruto actually was impressed at. Again, his mind wandered on why such a young girl was so good at setting up camp.

The trek through Takigakure lasted only about four days, they took no time to marvel at the country's beautiful and exotic waterfalls and they just coasted right by, much to Kise's dismay. Luckily they didn't find any trouble on their journey, most people who say stumbled across didn't even spare them a second glance. Taki was more peaceful then he thought, they didn't run into a single shinobi or bandit once.

Their journey was slow, much slower than Naruto had originally expected it to be. When he thought about it he should have known better, Kise certainly didn't have the stamina for faster travel and her little legs could only go so far before she collapsed. He would most of their time carry her piggyback style on his back during the night, since she would always be exhausted before the sun would even set.

Looking down at his map Naruto couldn't help but frown. They had just passed the border into Sound country, and traveling at their current pace it would most likely take anywhere up from a month to finally enter Lightning Country. The pace was too slow for comfort, but he knew pushing Kise too far would most likely backfire on him almost instantly, and that he just couldn't afford. He didn't so much care for the girl, but she was his mission, and the mission had to be completed no matter what. Naruto went to run his hand through his hair and winced at the sudden pain, momentarily forgetting the wrist that Narumi had broken. He looked at the makeshift cast around his wrist and sighed, he tried his best to stop his mind from drifting back to his abandoned teammates, especially one in particular.

He felt especially guilty since he would have to live with team 11 thinking he abandoned them, just as they were starting to become really close as a team.

Naruto then groaned looking down his arm again, annoyed slightly that his blood jutsu couldn't heal broken bones. His wrist hurt like hell.

Naruto turned to Kise, telling the girl that they would be stopping for the night and to start setting up camp. Naruto didn't know anything about Sound country and he would rather be safe than sorry than traveling during the night. Kise nodded and took off her large backpack and quietly took out two tents and got to work assembling them. Naruto, happy to see her get to work, was quick to put together a fireplace and take out the food that the masked man was generous enough to give them. Luckily they were kept in a separate preservation scroll so he didn't have to worry about it spoiling anytime soon, and it would probably last them all the way until Lightning Country.

"Ano...Naruto-san?"

"Hmm? What is it?" Naruto replied as he started cooking several meat skewers for the two of them over the now burning fire. He didn't look at Kise as she spoke, instead he focused on not burning the meat as Kise took a seat on the grass across from him. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them protectively, her golden eyes looking at Naruto awkwardly. After a moment of silence Naruto finally raised his head to meet the now shy golden eyes looking back at him. He raised an eyebrow and stayed silent, if she wanted to speak then she would, he wouldn't force her. Kise fidgeted in her seated position before looking away from Naruto, her lips quivering slightly in shyness.

"W-well I wanted to ask you, w-why did you agree t-to take me…?"

Naruto lowered his brow at the unexpected question, he pursed his lips into a thin line as he used his non-bandaged hand to scratch the back on his head. "Well I guess because the masked man forced me too, we kinda have a deal that after I deliver you I will finally be told who killed my sensei."

"F-forced you t-too?"

"Yeah, he said If i didn't then he would kill my closest person."

"O-oh...sorry."

Naruto felt something in his chest clench at the girl's sudden broken tone of voice. She pulled her legs even closer to her and buried her head within them, hiding her face from view. Naruto. Naruto felt an increase of awkwardness as she did so, confusion flashed in his eyes as he took the meat skeres off the fire and placed them on a small plate.

"Why are you sorry?"

Naruto felt his heart twinge again as he heard a sob scrape by her throat. The tiny girl shook her head at Naruto, refusing to look up as she spoke into her arms, her voice heavily muffled.

"I'm tired of people dying because of me...they always die and leave me alone..."

Naruto felt his heart drop in his chest, he barely heard what she said since it was so muffled. While Naruto had no idea what she was talking about, it now made a little more sense why the girl was so...distraught all the time. He wouldn't pry her to talk about it, he knew better than a lot of people that it's hard to open up to people. And Kise was definitely scared, he didn't know how deep, but it was deep enough for such a young child.

For a split second he saw himself in her shoes and he had to fight back a gasp. Was this what would have happened if he never met Shisui? Shaking his head not wanting to think about that, he slowly got up from his previous position and knelt down to the girl. He placed a hesitant hand on her shoulder, she flinched slightly at his touch. Her eyes widened in horror as she snapped her head up to look at Naruto.

Naruto tried his best to put on the softest look he could muster up. He didn't want a repeat of what happened back in Roka. After Kise didn't force his hand away, and thankfully no puppets chasing after him. He patted her shoulder awkwardly, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Hey, uhh, don't be sorry…! I needed to get away from my village anyway. I was starting to feel like I was suffocating, so I think this is a good thing! And I mean, no one's dying on you now!" He replied, he himself wasn't very confident in his answer but it seemed to drastically raise Kise's mood. Her eyes widened, and tears finally stopped forming within her irises. Her face physically brightened, it still lacked the mirth that a young child should have. But it was a big improvement from the whole journey so far. She offered back a small awkward smile in return and nodded her head. Naruto felt a weird warm sensation crawl over his cold bones as he looked at the now smiling girl.

He removed his hand from her shoulder and was about to offer her some food before a soft crack echoed in the distance. His ear twitched, noticing Kise also heard it he watched as her eyes evolved back into fear. He quickly threw his hand over her mouth, shutting down a scream he knew that was coming. This action accidentally scared the young girl more as he held a finger to his lips, she seemed to take the hint and fearfully nodded her head. Naruto gave her a gracious nod of his own before shunshing into the nearest tree that overlooked their campsite.

He kept his hand over Kise's mouth as he saw three unknown men jump into the clearing. He cursed at the angle he was looking at, he couldn't see if they had any shinobi headbands, most likely could be bandits. He frowned slightly as they mumbled to each other, a few laughs broke out between them as they picked up his meat skewers and started eating.

Naruto had to suppress a groan at that.

Naruto broke out of his thoughts as he felt Kise's hand poked his arm. Looking back he was quick to apologize as he saw her still scared expression. He removed his hand from her mouth and she quietly breathed in the fresh air. Kise reverted back into herself as she looked down at the three unknown men below them. They were a good 30 feet away and had a perfect view from above, they seemed to not notice their presence at all which gave Naruto enough time to hash out a plan.

"W-what are we going to d-do?" Kise whispered to Naruto, her voice trembling slightly as she subconsciously moved closer to Naruto. Naruto, if he noticed, didn't mention it as he rubbed his chin in thought. From the looks of them they didn't look to be very strong, and they didn't seem to be alarmed that they entered someone else's freshly made camp. Hell the food was still hot!

"Well, I could cast a genjutsu over them easily and we could probably sneak away without them even knowing. They don't look strong, so I would guess they're probably bandits." Naruto whispered back, his words slowly calming down Kise.

"W-what should I do?"

Naruto looked at Kise as she spoke, the young girl tried her best to suppress a gasp of surprise as he did so. The masked man did tell him that Kise's magnet release was strong, and that she had loads of potential. It would be much easier if she was well trained to help them out in sticky situations, maybe even improve her stamina so they could travel at much faster speeds.

He quickly looked back down at the three bandits, his eyes scanning over the area as they finally settled on the open bag directly behind two of the bandits. Naruto smirked as he placed his hand back on Kise's shoulder, he ignored her sudden jump and pointed with his casted hand towards the small bag. Kise followed his finger and looked at the bag in confusion.

"This may be a good thing, maybe we can strengthen you up." he started as Kise blinked. "In that bag are several kuani, can you use your magnet release on them?"

Kise shoulders slumped down as she looked away. She shook her head, making Naruto look at her confused. He swore she should be able to do it, he saw her control puppets without chakra strings afterall. Kise felt tears spring to her eyes once again.

"I don't know how...It kinda just happens I can't control it." Kise muttered quietly, wrapping her arms around her waist. Naruto looked at the small girl with a soft glow of empathy, his mind flashing back to his first meeting with Shisui, the day before his birthday all those years ago. No one had bothered to teach him anything before that, no one gave him the chance to prove himself. The parallels between the two of them was starting to show more to the young blonde. Naruto wondered again, if this is what would have happened to him if he never met Shisui.

Naruto's head flashed uncomfortable after those thoughts, shaking away the negative thoughts he slightly tapped Kise's shoulder, the younger girl looked up at Naruto's bright blue comforting eyes. He told her to copy his pose as he sat cross legged on the thick tree branch. She followed suit with a moment's hesitation as he whispered to her.

"Try and let your chakra flow through your body at a comfortable pace, as of now your emotions have been the trigger for your attacks right?" he said, and continued as Kise nodded and formed the ram seal with him. He smiled, almost forgetting that there were bandits currently looking through their belongings below them. "Try and control the amount of chakra you are pushing through your coils, but don't force it through that would only cause backlash."

Kise slowly nodded as she turned back towards the open bag next to the bandits. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she kept her eyes locked onto the bag. She felt her chakra start to pulsate within her body and was scared that it might cause the backlash that Naruto was talking about. Naruto noticed her sudden change and softly whispered that she was doing a good job and to keep at it. Naruto's words seemed to help Kise as she let out a calming breath, letting her chakra flow to her hands at a calming pace. This was different than when she used the puppets to attack, or even on that fateful day…

She winced at the thought, losing her concentration for a moment; Kise was thankful for Naruto's encouraging words as it kept her going for a moment longer. With one last chakra pulse Naruto watched in awe as the kunai stored in her bag tore through the material and sent themselves soaring towards the three bandits.

Naruto watched as the men below screamed in pain as dozens upon dozens of kunai ripped her bag clean open and embedded themselves in the poor bandits bodys. Naruto felt a shudder down his spine as he looked back at Kise in shock and amazement. That masked man was right, this girl was incredibly dangerous.

Naruto felt a tinge of pride well up inside of him, he didn't know if she would get what he was saying about her chakra, but she was glad to see that she soaked it up like a sponge. Kise looked at the scene below them and her eyes went wide with amazement. Her golden orbs sparkled serenely as she looked at Naruto with the biggest smile he had ever seen. The smile was definitely contagious as Naruto himself felt one form on his lips.

"I-i did it! I controlled them myself!" Kise yelled happily as she bounded up and down in place. Her happy laughter echoed throughout the dark forest and Naruto shared her laughter with her. His eyes watched her as she channeled more chakra into her body, slowly but surely the kunai flew back and forth, flying from tree to tree as she giggled relentlessly. Naruto marveled at the drastic change of her attitude, the feeling in his gut became more pure as she looked back at him with such happiness in her eyes, despite the fact that she had just killed three people.

Naruto reached out and rubbed her hair, Kise didn't flinch this time as she just beamed at Naruto, a tinge of pink staining her cheeks from the excitement. And at this moment, Naruto truly realized what Shisui must have felt the first time they met all those years ago. The sudden awkwardness from their trip evaporated completely from the two of them, and a new bond was forming. One they both were unprepared for.

"This...this isn't so bad."