Naruto ran towards Hokage Tower, the girl he found in the lake, in his arms. He rounded the corner and ran straight up the wall to the open window.
Meanwhile,Tsunade Senju sat at her desk doing her usual round of paperwork. She sighed as she looked at the stack piled on her desk, and cried inwardly. Ever since the last battle of the war, Madara and Sasuke had been laying low. Some of their patrols ran into some opposing forces now and again, but there had been no major contact with the enemy. Since then, she and the other Kages, had ordered Naruto and his fellow Jinchurki, Killer Bee, to stay in their respective villages and take no missions. Naruto was livid when he heard this, and tried to fight it, but Tsunade had shut him down. She threatened to put him in the hospital if he didn't stay in the village. Naruto agreed, due the fact he would rather be free to move about, than stay in the hospital for any length of time.
"Why does this always happen?" Tsunade thought, as she finished another round of paperwork. She was about to start the next stack, when Naruto burst through the window, with an unconscious girl in his arms.
"Baa-chan!" he shouted, the worry in his voice. "Help her!"
Tsunade looked at Naruto, then at the girl. This was someone she had seen around the village. She motioned for Naruto to put her down so she could look the girl over. Naruto did as he was told, and set her down slowly on the couch.
"Let me take a look," she said, and looked over the girl. She was sickly-looking and seemed to not have eaten in a long while. Tsunade did the Medical Scan Justus, and saw that she had passed out from exhaustion. She took a good look at the girl and knew for a fact that she was not from the village.
"Naruto, Where did you find her?" Tsunade asked Naruto, with a bit of concern in her voice.
"She was floating in the lake, in training ground 47," Naruto said. "I was relaxing near the lake, when I saw her floating in the water. I pulled her out as fast as I could. She was conscious for a moment before blacking out again."
Tsunade frowned. "Have you seen this girl before?" she asked, wanting to confirm her suspicions.
"Nope," Naruto said with a shrug, not seeing the point in the question.
Tsunade waved her hands and five ANBU appeared in the office. "Take this girl to a secure room in the hospital," she said with authority. "I want her questioned when she awakes."
Naruto watched this and attempted to stop the ANBU but his efforts were frustrated by Tsunade. He stared at her, "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"She could be any enemy spy!" Tsuande replied, making him frown.
"She isn't!" Naruto said. "I found her floating in the lake, half dead. I don't think a spy would do that."
"Spies do crazy things to get their information," Tsuande said, and watched as the ANBU left the room with the girl.
"But," he began, but Tsunade cut him off.
"This is for the good of the village," she said. Naruto just sighed.
"Fine!" he said, with a bit of anger. He didn't know why, but he wanted to protect the girl. She seemed so lost when he found her, and he wanted to hold her and make sure she was ok. As he thought about her, Tsunade was trying to get his attention.
"NARUTO!" she shouted, getting him out of his stupor.
"Yeah Baa-chan?" he said.
"As I was saying, you will be able to check on her later, on after we question her," she said, making him smile.
He gave Tsunade a hug. "Thanks Baa-chan," he said, and Tsunade smiled.
"You're welcome, brat," she said, as the two broke apart. "Now get out of here, I have work to do."
Naruto nodded and jumped out of the window. Tsuande smiled then sighed to herself as she turned to face the stack of paperwork awaiting her attention.
-With Azula-
Azula slowly opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by darkness. Cautiously she stood up and looked around, but saw no one. The last thing she remembered was a blonde boy watching over her. She tried to make out his face from memory, but nothing came to mind. When she had looked at him, she felt safe, but she didn't feel that way now. She walked around and tried to find light, but only the darkness was present.
Soon, the sound of footsteps filled the air, making Azula look around in fear. Suddenly, her father came into view. "Azula, I finally found you," he sneered, walking towards her.
Azula started to back away. "You can't be here," She said, fearing. "You're not real."
"Oh, my dear Azula," Ozai responded with a cruel smile. "I am here, and now I'm going to do what I have should have done before!"
Azula watched as he sent a large ball of fire at her. She dodged to the side, and started to run away as he sent another fireball in her direction. She continued her frantic escape attempt, not daring to look back. She soon found herself alone in the darkness. Feeling a bit relieved, she sat down.
"Why is this happening to me?" she cried, as she pulled into herself.
"There you are, Azula," said a female voice from behind. Azula turned around and beheld her mother standing over her.
"Mo...mother," she said with shock.
"My dear Azula, I am so sorry you turned into a monster," her mother, Ursa, said, making her cringe.
Azula looked at her mother in confusion, "what are you saying?"
"I'm sorry you're a monster," Her mother repeated. "I should have taken care of you earlier, so that this wouldn't have happened." Azula watched, as her mother pulled out along knife. "I should have done this long ago."
Azula watched as Ursa approached her, knife in hand. Azula scrambled to get away but she ran straight toward her father. She turned around but found herself trapped between her parents.
"Ozai, let's deal with this monster," Ursa stated. Ozai smiled in reply.
"Yes, it's time to face your punishment, Azula." The next thing she saw was a large ball of fire coming towards her.
"NO!" Azula shouted, as she sat up. She looked around and found herself in a white room that smelled funny. She tried to raise her arms, but felt something against her wrist. She looked down and found her wrist tied to one of the bars next to the bed. She tried to pull away, but the bonds held firm. Suddenly, the door opened and someone walked in.
Azula started to thrash around, trying to get free. She was afraid she had been captured again, and was going back to her cell. The person who entered, saw the terror in Azula's eyes, and called for others. Azula pulled at her restraints as hard as she could. The force of her struggles caused the bonds to dig into her skin, drawing blood.
"Someone get the sedative," a voice commanded, as the people tried to hold Azula down, but she wouldn't have it. She wasn't going back. Suddenly, she felt something prick her neck and she slowly started to fall back into darkness.
One of the doctors watched as Azula went to sleep. "Get me the Hokage," he said with a sigh, and one of the nurses nodded. He had seen this before and was afraid that getting any information out of the girl would be much harder than he had anticipated. A few minutes later, Tsuande walked into the room and saw the doctor bandaging the girl's wrist.
"What happened?" she questioned, as the doctor finished dressing her wounds.
He motioned for Tsunade to follow him outside the room. "She woke up and started to struggle. We had to restrain her and give her a sedative."
"Ok, so what the problem?" she asked.
"From her reaction, I'm thinking she might be mentally unstable," he deduced, making Tsunade frown.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"I have seen that reaction before," he said. "I am almost positive, but I would like you to bring in a Yamanaka to make sure."
"I will have Inoichi here as soon as possible," she replied, and headed out of the room. The doctor watched her leave and called one of his nurses to watch the girl.
-With Naruto-
Naruto sighed as he left his apartment; He had decided to visit the girl from the lake and thought it would be a good time to go see her. "They had to be done with her questioning by now" he thought. He smiled to himself and headed out. He grined as he looked around the village. Even though it was nothing but a huge creator some time ago,but the village came back vigorously.
"That is the Will of Fire for you," he said, as he headed towards the hospital. Naruto soon arrived at his destination and headed toward the main desk. He was about to ask for the girl's room, when he saw a familiar head of pink hair.
"Hey, Sakura!" he called out, getting the girls attention.
Sakura turned and saw Naruto heading towards her and sighed heavily. "Hey Naruto," she said, trying to hide her annoyance. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm…" he began but was interrupted by one of the nurses giving Sakura some files. He sighed and turned. "I'm just going to go."
Sakura finished talking to the nurse, and looked around for Naruto. Seeing that he was no longer there, she continued on her way. Naruto meanwhile was headed towards the prisoner wing of the hospital to check on the girl, after finding the main desk to be no help.
He entered the wing and saw Tsunade standing next to Inoichi, Ino's dad. He walked over to the pair with a smile on his face, "Hi Baa-chan" he greated.
Tsunade turned to face Naruto, a look of annoyance on her face. "What are you doing here?" she questioned curtly.
"I came to see the girl," he responded. "You should be done questioning her now, right?"
"No, we haven't," Tsuande replied. "She woke up for a few moments, but she started to struggle so we had to sedate her."
"Is she, ok?" Naruto asked with concern.
"For now," she replied. "I'm going to have Inoichi enter her mind and see if he can get anything from her."
Naruto nodded. "Can I come?" he asked. Tsuande nodded. He followed the pair as they entered a room down the hall and saw the girl lying on the bed, her wrists tied to the bed bars. He noticed that her wrists were bandaged and wanted to inquire about it, but remained silent as he watched Inoichi walk over to the girl's side.
Inoichi went through several different hand signs and created an open diamond with his hand. "Mind Transfer Justus!" he said and his body slumped.
-Inside Azula's Mind-
Inoichi stood in darkness. He started to walk, his blonde hair swinging behind him. He walked until he reached what looked like a bit of shattered glass. He picked it up and saw that it was a piece of the girl's broken memory. It showed when she was a young girl, talking to a woman who seemed to be her mother. He set the glass down and continued on. Soon, he found more and more shattered fragments of memories.
"What could have caused her mind to shatter this much?" he thought to himself. He started to slowly piece together the memories. He saw that she was a princess of a great nation, who seemed to be able to control fire, without the use of hand signs. This nation seemed to be at war, with what looked like, the rest of the world. He saw that she was very ruthless and always decimated her enemies.
"She would have made a great Shinobi," he decided, as the memories continued to fall together. He watched the betrayal she received from her companions and her fight with a boy with a burn around the left side of his face. He frowned and saw that she had been in a cell ever since. He was about to leave when he saw the girl run past, the fear evident on her face. He turned and saw two people chasing after the girl. It was the woman who looked her mother and the man he assumed to be her father. He was about to chance after them when he suddenly felt himself being expelled from her mind.
He opened his eyes as he felt himself enter his body, only to see that the girl was shaking violently. Tsunade was trying to stop her, but the shaking was getting worse.
"What happened?" he asked, getting up in an attempt to help. .
"She started to have a seizure a moment ago," Tsunade replied.
Inoichi watched this, and wondered what they could do for the girl. He suddenly saw Naruto rush forward and put his hand on the girl's forehead.
"Naruto, what are you doing!" Tsuande cried, but it seemed Naruto hadn't heard her. He's only focus was on the girl. The pair watched as his eyes slowly closed, and wondered what he was up to?
-With Naruto a few moments earlier-
Naruto watched as Inoichi entered the girl's mind. He couldn't help but worry. He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen to her, and he wanted to stop it.
Kyuubi noticed his apprehension and tried to alleviate his worry. "It's fine kit," she said. "Inoichi is just taking a look around."
"I know that," Naruto replied, the worry evident in his voice. "I just have a feeling that something bad will happen."
Kyuubi knew that when Naruto got one of his bad feelings, he was usually right, "Ok kit, I believe you." she assured him, and Naruto smiled.
"Thanks Kyu, you're the best." he said, as Kyuubi returned the smile.
"You know I,." she replied, with confidence. Suddenly the girl began to move about, violently. Naruto watched as Tsunade rushed over to see what was going on. Soon Inoichi was back in his body and started to help Tsunade.
"Kit, go over there now!" Kyuubi yelled at Naruto.
"What can I do?" he asked in a panicked voice.
"Just go over to her, and place your hand on her forehead. I will take care of the rest," Kyuubi ordered. Naruto nodded and ran over to the girl. He placed his hand on her forehead as Kyuubi started to move Naruto's and her mind into the girl's. Naruto felt a pull on his mind as he slowly closed his eyes.
-With Azula-
Azula ran frantically, trying to get away from her parents, but without success. She just couldn't shake them.
"Leave me alone," she shouted, as she ran, hoping that her pleas would make her tormentors go away. Her request was answered with a fire blast. She turned and ran to the side, her parents in hot pursuit. She soon came upon a number of pillars all around her and decided to hide behind one. She sat down and tried to catch her breath but soon the sound of footsteps grew louder.
"Oh Azula," Ursa sang out, as Azula scooted closer to the pillar. "Come out Azula."
Azula didn't move, not daring to make a sound. "Azula, please come out," Ozai called as a pillar crashed to the ground. Azula dashed to another pillar, and remained still.
"Azula, come on out," Ursa begged. Azula remained frozen as she watched a huge wave of fire take out several pillars beside her.
"They're not real," she told herself, but she could still hear the clamor as more and more pillars were smashed to bits. She knew she couldn't stay there any longer and she took off again. She ran as fast as she could, unwilling to look back not wanting to see what was waiting for her. She wanted to get away from it all, the pain, the loneliness, the sorrow; she wanted it all to end.
"There she is!" Ozai shouted causing Azula to run faster.
"Please! Someone help me!" she thought to herself as she fled.
-With Naruto-
Naruto opened his eyes and looked around. He found himself in darkness with Kyuubi standing by his side.
"We are in the girl's mind," Kyuubi said as they looked around.
"Ok, now what?" Naruto asked.
"We find her and help her," Kyuubi replied. Naruto nodded in agreement.
"Let's go," he exclaimed and started to walk into the darkness, with Kyuubi close behind.
-With Azula-
Azula came from out of the pillars and found herself standing in a replica of the courtyard where she fought Zuko. She tried to head to the stairs but a wall appeared to be blocking her way. She turned back to see her father and mother standing there.
"We found you," Ozai said satisfied, as he brought out a fire covered hand.
"It is going to be ok, honey," Ursa stated as she lifted her knife.
Azula looked at her parents, her back pressed against the wall. "No! Leave me alone," she screamed, searching for an escape.
"This is for you own good," Ursa said as she started to walk towards Azula. "This will only hurt for a moment."
"N.!" Azula stammered as she watched her mother coming towards her. "NO!"
-With Naruto-
"NO!" a girl's voice echoed, causing Naruto to look around with a start.
"Where is she!" Naruto shouted in frustration. He looked around but still was unsure as to where to sound came from.
"Help me!" the voice echo again.
Naruto frowned in complete frustration. "To hell with it!" he shouted, and ran off to the left. Kyuubi followed close behind. "Please be ok," Naruto thought as he ran.
-With Azula-
Azula managed to dodge another blast of fire. She looked up to find and saw her mother still advancing. She turned and ran back toward the pillars, hoping to find new place to hide. She sprinted and soon felt a familiar surface against her feet. She looked down and saw a metal grate over water.
"No," she thought, and tried to get off the grate, but she was stuck. Ice began to crawl up her leg, slowly trapping her body. "Not again! Not like this!"
Ursa walked towards Azula as the Ice continued to envelop her body. She hovered over Azula, knife at the ready. "No more running," she said angrily, making Azula show fear.
"No,please!" Azula begged, "PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!"
Ursa looked at her daughter with sorrow in her eyes. "I am sorry this has to happen," she said as she raised the knife, "but this is the only way."
Azula watched as the knife came down and closed her eyes, waiting for the end, but the end never came. She slowly opened her eyes and saw someone new, standing in front of her. He wore a black jacket, and pants that had orange stripes going down the sides. His blonde hair danced in the wind.
"You're not laying a hand on her," he said and pushed her mother back. He turned and smiled at Azula. He had a handsome face and six whisker like marks in his face.
"You ok?" he asked reassuringly. "Don't worry, I will take care of it."
"Who are you?" she asked hesitantly.
"Let me take care of this first." He said with a smile and turned to face Ursa.
'"I have no idea why you're attacking her, but you're not going to hurt her!" he demanded, and pushed her back.
"Who are you?" Ursa shouted, her attention suddenly diverted to the boy, and attempted to stab Naruto. He easily side stepped the attack and punched Ursa across the face. He pressed his attack and pushed Ursa back even further.
Ozai came forward and attempted to attack, when suddenly a large fox with nine tails assaulted him. He found it futile to fight back and found himself trapped. Ursa had backed away from the blonde. Ozai had got away from the fox and stood next to his wife.
"Damn you!" Ozai exclaimed as they retreated. He stopped and looked at Azula for a few moments. "I will be back for you."
Azula shrunk back from that comment and watched as Ozai faded into darkness. Azula turned and saw Ursa watching her. "I'm so sorry" she mouthed, and then she too faded into the darkness.
The boy walked over to her and started to remove the ice from her body. She was quickly freed and he held her in his arms. He walked over to the fox. "It is going to be ok now." He said relieved.
She looked at the boy. "Wh…who…are..you?" she stammered making him laugh a bit.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he said, "and who might you be?"
"Azula," was Azula's reply and Naruto grinned.
"Well, I'm glad you are safe," Naruto said, and walked over to the fox. "Now it is time to wake up."
Azula nodded calmly, and everything faded to black. She opened her eyes and found herself back in the white room on the bed. She looked around and saw Naruto standing next to her.
"Glad to see you again," he said with a smile and Azula nodded. She looked at the blonde and felt safe, for the first time in a long time.
This is chapter two, I really hope you like it. I am thankful for your reviews, and a very special thanks to GrievousHollow, your reviews was really apperiated. I am really glad you guys like this story and I hope to continue to write it as best as I can. I will continue to write to my best of my ablility. I will be having people from Avatar world trying to get Azula back. Also this story is a single and I mean single pairing. So this is a Naruto/Azula pairing. Again please review and please be like GrievousHollow and give me a long review that helps me make this story the best it can be. So PLEASE REVEW!