Chapter Nine

Disclaimer

I don't own Naruto nor any character connected. Someone else does.

A/N

I want to thank "clockright" for we are collaborated on many ideas for this story.

I like to thank those who took the time to comment objectively on this story. I understand this story is not everyone's cup of tea especially how it began so I like to apologize again to those who taken an extreme disliking to it. In this chapter, I have taken inspiration from the comments themselves and hope to answer some of the questions they proposed.

With that in mind, let's get to it.

Close to midnight, four black grand Shire horses pulled a black fully enclosed carriage. Inside were the Fire Lord, his daughter Hosika Rei or Mari, as she likes to called, and a rather upset twin to Mari, Namikaze Uzumaki Kaiko. All but Kaiko was sleeping.

Kaiko was going over and over the events that lead to her 'kidnapping'. Those events were of course the events of her rape thru to now. She could not believe her father would go along with this without even asking her first. That what was burning her up the worst is that she had no say so in this affair. Had they asked she would gladly have went for the change of pace and get the help she realized she needed without being under the scrutiny of a microscope like the village is known for.

Kaiko's thoughts were interrupted as a buzzer rang in the carriage. The unexpected noise made Kaiko jump. Mari, who was woken up by the buzzer, giggled over Kaiko's reaction. Kaiko understandably was miffed, "What was that?"

"That was a wakeup call. We asked the driver to do it so we be awake once we get near the city limits. It would be unseemly for the royal family to be asleep in a carriage in front of the populace," replied Mari who was still giggling.

Kaiko looked at her deadly, "I bet giggling like a school girl would be unseemly too."

That effectively killed Mari's mood as the Fire Lord looked on the two and smiled. He had been trying to teach that to Mari for years now. Maybe this situation could work for Mari's sake as well.

Once they got to the Palace, Mari grabbed Kaiko's hand and rushed inside. "Mari, wait! Where are you taking me?"

"To my bedroom Kaiko!"

Kaiko got an immediate red faced thinking what that meant. Mari noticed and was not pleased, "Get your mind out of the gutter … geez. We are going there to get some sleep. I bet you have not slept at all since we left Konoha."

Kaiko had to admit that was true. "Why can't I use the same room I used when I was Naruto?"

"Get Real Kaiko. When you visited you always came during the day and stayed only one night. Putting you in the guest room was not a problem since you were a boy. Now you are a girl and you will be here for a few months. You need your own room. It is being prepared but will not be ready until tomorrow. Until then we will bunk together." Then Mari switched from serious to whimsical sounding, "Besides I have a few questions."

Kaiko was perplexed as to which questions Mari would have since her information network was better than most. When she was Naruto she would call Mari for some information he needed pertaining to Konoha. Her information network surpasses the Anbu information gathering techniques sometimes.

Once in the room Mari called the kitchen to request some late night snacks delivered to her room for her and Kaiko. Then she proceeded to go into her walk in closet and changed into her nightclothes. When she came out, she noticed Kaiko was nervous. As she giggled Mari said, "I won't eat you or nothing like that so relax."

Kaiko glared briefly at Mari then turned away while spewing, "First you kidnap me while forcing me to wear these … clothes" She gestures to what she is wearing which is a smart looking form fitting black skirt and a tight short sleeved white blouse that leaves her midriff bare.

"Then you ushered me to a waiting carriage only stopping long enough to leave poor Tora off with that hag that like to choke her to death. Now it's the middle of the night and you demand answers to question you probably already know the answer to. On top of that you inform me I will be staying here in your for the night and you just changed into you PJ's which means you probably expect me to which by the way you forbid me to bring with me. Did I leave anything out?" Kaiko asked with more than hint of sarcasm.

Mari stared at her before busting out laughing which annoyed the hell out Kaiko. Mari barely clammed down and said while still giggling, "If you wish nightclothes then just say so. I had some picked up for you and they are your sizes. They are in a bag in the closet."

Kaiko glanced over to the closet unassuredly. Mari giggled again. "Go on Kaiko. Despite popular rumors, there are no monsters in the closets."

When Kaiko looked into the closet, she indeed saw the bag Mari was referring to. In it was clothes that seemed to fit her although she was not sure of the styles. Then she giggled thinking these were no doubt the normal teen fashions. Further inspection of the contents of the bag revealed the pajamas bought for her. She nearly fainted for they were orange like her male clothes used to be. The bottoms were similar to in style to his male pajamas and the top seemed nothing more than a t-shirt. Hell there was a time this was considered normal sleepwear for her. She then wondered why the hell her mother insisted on the awful teddies.

Kaiko was so excited that when she came out of the closet with the pajamas on she nearly tackled Mari with her gratitude. Mari gave back just as much as Kaiko was giving and soon a wrestling match took place on Mari's bed. When they calm down, Mari asked while laughing, "I take it you are pleased with the new PJ's?"

"Are you kidding me? Mom insisted I wear teddies to bed. I hate them so much."

"Yeah I know." There goes evidence of Mari's information network again. Kaiko vowed to ask about that one day. "I have several questions but if you don't wish to answer them I will understand."

Kaiko sat opposite Mari holding her knees to her chest. Why do you want to ask me questions so badly? Isn't you information network enough?"

Mari sat cross-legged or in the Indian Lotus position. "It's more than sufficient except for one area. I want to know what is going on in that head of yours and the only way to find out is by you talking to me."

Kaiko considered Mari's words carefully. Here was a girl she hardly knew wishing to know what is going on thru her head. True they known about each other for years but she knew her supposed friends in Konoha better than her. Then it hit. Except for Sasuke and maybe Shikamaru, she really had no friends anymore in Konoha. Maybe she should open up to Mari after they had the same face.

"Okay but I like to have this reciprocated if I can."

"Absolutely! Now can I go first?" Kaiko nodded affirmatively. "Ok I get this transformation jutsu you used to turn yourself into a girl. Gawd I remember you practically begged me to use my face for this little jutsu. What I don't understand is how you developed it enough to get pregnant. Weren't you a virgin when you developed this jutsu?"

Kaiko turned her head away. "I had advanced Biology in the when I was eight years old. The theory was if we knew how the body works the better we can are at killing it. It works to some extent. Don't forget I was training to be a ninja since a very early age. All of Konoha is in the same boat. Most of us never pass the age of Thirty." Kaiko said the last part very quietly as if she was sad.

Mari chose to change the subject. "I know you saw thru Shikamaru's prank but you still went to the hotel room knowing it could be humiliating. Why?"

Kaiko bit her bottom lip. Mari is not pulling any punches with these questions. "You pulled tons of pranks yourself Mari. Have you ever pulled one that went so horribly wrong that you wished you never pulled at all?"

"You are talking about Akamaru aren't you?"

Kaiko got tears in her eyes as she said in a whisper, "Yes. You may have heard what happened but you were not there. The whole building heard Akamaru yelping to get free. He was so scared. I am not dumb as most think I am. Instantly I knew the horror of what I had done. Kiba would not speak to me afterward. I took to visit the vet clinic he was in everyday. Hana was not pleased to see at first but soon realized how very sorry I was for doing that to Akamaru. As the days went by I saw Akamaru's condition deteriorate. I knew it was a matter of time before he passed. That is why I allowed them to try to pull the prank on me, my way of apologizing. Hell, I would have let Kiba have me if he did not force me. That is how badly I felt over my actions."

To say Mari was a little shocked was putting it mildly. She had no idea Kaiko had it so rough lately mentally. No wonder she needs counseling. Justifiably she does not want the help from anyone in Konoha. That tight knit of group there are practically no secrets anywhere even though there is supposed to be something called doctor – patient confidentiality. Within a ninja community that is truly a very hard thing to actually achieve.

Kaiko then switched gears on Mari, "Mari, the last I heard your stepmother would not allow you to live in the Palace even though she lives in Konoha and not in the capital. What changed?"

It was Mari's turn to bit her lower lip. "Kaiko, as you know my Dad, the Fire Lord, had an affair with my mother that resulted in my birth. His wife never forgave him for that affair and never allowed my claim to be his daughter although everyone else knew about it. It turns out my stepmother is infertile and will never produce an heir. Then my mother died two years ago. I never told you and you never bothered to ask. Well I was about to go into an orphanage when the citizens of the capital protested saying I was their princess and deserved to live in the palace. Stepmother had to concede but as a tradeoff I cannot be seen in public with Dad."

Kaiko hugged Mari, "I had no idea you were going thru all this Mari."

"Well there was really no point in telling you since you were going thru hell yourself. I heard some stupid villager to this day blame you for what happened on your birthday."

"Yeah. To this day I still don't know much of what happened when that fox attacked or they managed to reseal it within mom. I am just glad they lived thru it. No telling what my life would be like had they not," replied Kaiko.

Mari knew what happened on that and thought about telling but chose not to. Instead she steered the conversation in yet another direction, "Kaiko, I want you to know I brought you here because I know you were ready to see a counselor about your recent tragedy and I knew you rather not see anyone in Konoha."

Kaiko thought carefully, "I wished you had asked me to come instead of demanded. I understand your reasons but I am worried about something."

"About what?" asked Mari?

"Well as you know I will be turning thirteen in a month. I will be eligible to take the Genin exam, which is in two months. I am afraid I will lose too much ground or won't be back in time."

"Kaiko you can rest easier. As part of the permission we got from your dad we have to allow him to teleport into the palace the morning of your genin exam so he can teleport you back to Konoha." Kaiko yawned which made Mari giggle, "I guess we better get to bed and get some sleep done. We have a very busy day tomorrow."

With that, the two twelve year old girls went to sleep.

A/N

Last chapter received some very interesting reviews. One was not very nice and unfortunately I cannot delete that particular review as I can only delete anonymous review. The one behind that one which was anonymous was so well thought out I decided to keep it up (I usually delete the anonymous reviews). The reviews were so interesting it inspired this very chapter and somewhat how the adventure in the capital will play out. Thanks Guys. Please keep the reviews/comments coming.

Till next time - chow!