Chapter 15

"You're here? You really came!" She screamed excitedly, as soon as she realized who had just stepped into the room. He must have changed, since he wasn't wearing the dirty uniform from the night before, but he was as handsome as she remembered and she blushed slightly when her eyes met his darker ones.

He smiled softly at her and her heartbeat sped up a little bit as he moved closer to her, sitting on the chair next to her bed.

"I promised, didn't I?"

She looked down sadly, she wasn't used to being treated so nicely, it made her heart clench. She wondered if he noticed the change in her attitude. It seemed like he did though, because his eyes looked a little more sad than before.

"People don't usually keep their promises, not to me at least"

"But I'm here now,am I?."

She nodded and he gently ruffled her blonde hair, trying to erase that sad expression from her face,

"So what about a smile? I think I deserve one for keeping my promise"

She looked up, meeting his gentle dark gaze, and could feel her cheeks heat up, as she tried to give him her best smile. She had a hard time though, as she felt the bandages pull her skin.

"It's hard with these bandages! I feel like I have scotch tape all over my face!"

He chuckled, and tapped a finger on his chin as if deep in thought.

"Well...maybe, this will help" he turned around and picked up a package from the floor, it was bright pink, with a red bow on top, he handed it to her and she stared at it as she felt tears form in her eyes and a knot in her throat that didn't let her utter a word.

"I'm sorry the lady at the store chose the wrapping paper, she said it was appropriate for a young girl your age, I admit it is kind of bright"

He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, but she shook her head as she took the gift from his hands, looking at it with big teary eyes.

"I love it…thank you" she rubbed her eyes trying to wipe the tears away. It was the first time that someone was so kind to her, she didn't know what else to say.

He smiled gently, waiting patiently for her to open it, watching as she unwrapped it slowly, as if afraid that if she did it too fast the gift would just disappear.

"I saw it while I was walking home last night in a window of a store, and it reminded me of you. I thought you could use a friend"

"It's a plushie! A fox plushie!" she laughed as she felt the soft material under her fingers and brought it up to look at the fuzzy face of the toy better. It was just a plushie but she felt like she had gained a friend, someone that would stick by her even in the horrible conditions she was forced to live in. She teared up again, and this time she was unable to control the overflow of tears from her eyes.

"Thank you! I swear I will take care of him" in her enthusiasm she threw herself at the man wrapping her hands around his neck. He didn't seem to mind that she was staining his uniform with her tears and just laughed softly, gently smoothing out her blonde hair.

"Hey, why are you crying? I know I'm terrible at gifts but-"

"No! I love it! But...well this is the first time I receive one...that's all"

The man just sighed, how much pain did this girl have to endure in her short life? How could no one care about her, and how could the State allow horrible people such as Naruko's adoptive parents to get away with what they had done for lack of evidence? It sickened him, but unfortunately his hands were tied. The only thing he could do was comfort the girl during her stay in the hospital.

"So, don't you think we should find a name for this little guy?"

Naruko looked at him with confused blue eyes.

"Name him?"

"Of course! Don't you think he deserves a name?"

"Yes! But what could I name him?"

"Mhh let me think...mr Fox?"

"That's a terrible name Mr Officer" she said with a very serious tone that made him chuckle.

"I'm sorry, I'm terrible at naming things" he admitted with a hint of amusement.

"You see Mr Officer, He's a very important fox! So he needs a very important name!"

The officer seemed to understand her problem and his expression turned serious as he seemed to be trying to come up with something.

"Okay, then let me think, what about Kyuby?"

"That's a weird name"she declared as her face scrunched up in a frown, but the young officer just chuckled, not at all offended by her bluntness.

"It's true, but since you say that he is a very important fox, then we have to give him a very important name. Have you ever heard about the legend of the nine tailed fox?" he asked as he leaned a little closer as if what he was telling her was a secret.

She shook her head no, so he continued to explain "The nine tailed fox or Kyuby is part of one of Konoha's oldest legends. It is said that a long time ago, when Konoha was still a ninja village the nine-tailed fox, who was the most powerful of the tailed beasts, tried to destroy our village because of all the hatred that he felt towards humans. He was hell bent on destroying everything, but one of the ninja, a young man was able to stop him"

"Was he that powerful?" Naruko asked, her big eyes wide with admiration and interest, Itachi snickered, and raised his hand to flicker her forehead with his fingers.

"Patience" she touched her forehead and blew up her cheeks in frustration.

"But I want to know now!" he chuckled in amusement.

"He was powerful, but that wasn't the only thing that made him great. It was his heart, and his ability to talk to the fox. Instead of fighting it like all others had done before, he wanted to understand why it was lashing out like that and he was able to reach out to him and make him get over his hatred and his grief. The fox spirit was very grateful to the human, and gave him his powers, making the warrior one of the most powerful ninja to ever live."

"I don't understand, if the fox was so angry, how could a human find a way to get to him without fighting?"

"Well, let's just say that the human understood his pain, he too had lost his family and loved one to the war, so he understood the pain the fox was going through. You see the fox had lost his creator that he considered like a father and he just couldn't get over his pain"

Naruko became sad all of a sudden, and Itachi wondered if it had been a good idea to tell her the story.

"And the human was able to forgive him after all the destruction the fox had done to his village?"

"You see Naruko, the human understood the fox's reasons, and he knew that he couldn't let the past define him. He freed the fox of the weight he felt on his heart, and by doing that allowed the it to find peace and redemption."

"It's not easy to forget something like that" she pouted, crossing her arms on her chest. He seemed to understand what was going through her mind and sighed, sitting on the bed next to her.

He took one of her hands in his and sighed.

"I know right now you think that all of this will take its weight on you, Naruko. But you can't let this define who you are. You had a very hard upbringing but remember, this is not what you are. You are not just the little orphan girl that suffered through abuse, you have a whole life in front of you, Naruko! You just need to convince yourself that you can be something extraordinary if you believe in yourself"

Naruko wiped a tear that had escaped her eyes and sniffled a little bit. She didn't want to show him she was crying, but there wasn't much she could do to hide it at that point. His words had hit her with as much force as a hurricane and she wanted to believe him so bad!

"You think I can overcome this?"

Itachi smiled, and wiped her face with his thumb.

"I know you can"

She smiled softly, leaning on his shoulder, as she felt the painkillers kick in,making her drowsy and sleepy. She felt bad that her time with him was cut short, but she was thankful that she could at least see him one more time.

"Thank you mr officer"

The young police officer wiped some hair away from her face, and stood up, letting her get comfortable in her bed, even in her sleepy state she remembered his smile as her eyelids got heavy and she surrendered to sleep.

Naruko woke up suddenly, gasping loudly as she caught her breath, her face and hair sweaty as she tried to make sense of where she was. She looked around, trying to calm herself as she slowly started to recognize her was in her tiny bedroom, surrounded by her stuff, that was mostly still in boxes. Kurama meowed softly from the end of the bed and she sat up more to look at him, she had probably woken him with her sudden movement.

"I'm sorry buddy" she apologized, reaching to stroke his orange fur. The cat jumped on her lap and let himself be pet by her, purring softly as he reached for her hand with his little head.

"You're being nice to me for once hm?" she hugged him hoping that his calm purring would help her heart beat slow down.

"My God Naruko, are you okay?"

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped slightly at the unexpected touch.

"It's me! Calm down!"

Naruko turned around with a confused expression but she recognized her best friend's pink hair and worried green eyes.

"When did you come in-"

"You woke up screaming and I got worried and- are those tears?"

Sakura leaned forward, grabbing her by the shoulders as she inspected her carefully. Naruko touched one of her cheeks and her eyes widened when she realized that Sakura was right, her cheeks felt wet, wet with tears.

"Oh my God, did you have one of those nightmares again?"

The Uzumaki didn't answer immediately, she hadn't realized that she had been screaming nor crying.

"No...it wasn't...it wasn't a nightmare"

"But...if it wasn't a nightmare...what was it?"

Naruko looked down, not really sure of what to say and bit her lip as she tried not to think of the memory that had sparked that dream. She noticed Kyuby on the floor next to her friend's leg and leaned towards it to pick it up. She must have thrown him when she woke up so suddenly. The plushie looked old and worn out compared to her dream. She smiled as she touched the still soft fur.

"I don't know, I don't really feel like talking about it" she said as she wiped her face, and finally got up, she didn't have much time to stand around, it was time to get ready, they had a shift at the hospital that day, as part of their volunteer job. Sakura didn't seem convinced though and stood up, following her around the room as the Uzumaki tried to get ready.

"Naruko, what happened last night? You came back late with Haku and…"

The blonde sighed as she finally found the top of her uniform in one of her laundry baskets.

"Nothing happened, I met Haku and we started to talk, that's it"

Sakura raised one of her pink eyebrows, she looked as if she had been insulted, and Naruko knew very well that she hadn't believed a word of what she had said.

"Haku lives downstairs, was it really necessary for him to walk you inside your apartment?"

"What can I say, he worries, plus, weren't you sleeping?"

Sakura groaned and rolled her eyes, and Naruko knew then and there that whatever she would say, would be used against her.

"Please, you know I'm a light sleeper, don't try and change the topic here!He worries only if you give him a reason to, so what happened?"

The blonde let out a grunt of frustration. She knew there was no way to shake away her best friend. Sakura would keep on asking questions until she had her answer, there was just no way of winning, unless…

"Why are you so worried about me? Don't you have your own problems to worry about? Like Sasuke leaving?"

Sakura's expression saddened, and her eyes became watery. It was clear that she wasn't expecting her best friend to use her recent heartbreak against her.

Naruko on the other side was aware it was a low blow, but it was the only way to get her to stop questions. She didn't have the courage to tell her best friend that the reason she was feeling so depressed was none other than Sasuke's evil brother. Apparently Uchiha men and all the problems that came with them were something else they had in common.

"Sasuke is not the only thing that i care about, and you should know that"

Naruko could feel the hurt in Sakura's voice, and she was one hundred percent sure that the girl was trying not to cry in front of her. The blonde girl felt guilty, if there was one thing she hated was to hurt her friends.

"That's not what I meant, I'm...I'm sorry, I'm still feeling a little shaken from the dream"

The pink haired girl nodded, but Naruko could tell that she still wasn't over their little fight.

"The dream was more like a memory. A memory of when I got these" she pointed at her cheeks briefly, as she sat back on her bed, picking the little fox plushie from where she had left it near her pillow.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she rushed to her friend's side immediately, taking her hands in hers.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

" I didn't want to worry you, you have your own problems…"

"But...you said it wasn't a nightmare"

"Because it wasn't. It was...a memory about this nice officer that came to visit me after the fact"

"You mean the one that gave you this?" Sakura asked, pointing at Kyuby.

Naruko nodded, she hardly ever spoke of her life before the accident, anything that her friends knew were little bits and pieces that they might have picked up from conversations here and there. No one really knew all the things that she had to suffer or what exactly had happened the night that she had gotten her scars, well, no one except one person.

"You said you haven't seen him after that right?"

"No, he came to visit me that one time and that was it, he was the first person to ever show me some kindness" she sighed, it was incredible how much that had changed. The Itachi from last night, was a completely different person from the one from her memory, even if for a few seconds she was sure that the old him was still in there somewhere. It made her hope that he wasn't completely lost, but, at the same time there was nothing she could do if he didn't want to be helped. She didn't think that seeing him again would affect her the way it did. It hurt her in ways she didn't want to admit, she knew she was powerless. She was nothing to him, that much he had made clear. That thought broke her more than she cared to admit, and she didn't understand why she even cared so much. He was just an old acquaintance, and that was it.

"Oh well, maybe it was just my mind feeling a little nostalgic. You know with what happened with Sasuke and everything that's being going on lately"

Sakura frowned at the mention of Sasuke, but she seemed to surrender every argument she was thinking of making. She sighed and sat on the bed with a sad expression.

"I'm sorry, I know that Sasuke leaving didn't affect only me. He's your best friend, and left without a goodbye"

"Don't worry about that, I am going to kick his ass twice for leaving the way he did"

She shrugged, trying to cheer her friend up as best as she could. If she didn't think about last night, maybe she could finally move on and keep living her life as if it never happened.

The pink haired girl laughed "I'm counting on it, but only after I kick his ass myself"

Naruko nodded "Deal!"
A soft knock on the door interrupted the moment, and Naruko gave her friend a confused glance.

"Did you invite someone over?"
Haku opened the door with an unimpressed look. His hair was tied back in a tight bun and he was wearing a black apron over his clothes, he must have been cooking by the look of it.

"What has been taking so long? breakfast is ready!"

Naruko glanced at her boss as if he had grown two heads.

"What are you doing here?"

Haku huffed in annoyance and leaned against the doorframe.

"After what happened last night I came to check on you" he explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So, nothing happened last night huh?" Sakura nudged in her ribs with her elbow, apparently Haku had just revealed her little white lie. She loved her boss but sometimes he didn't know when to shut up.

"It was nothing! I swear"

Haku raised an eyebrow in confusion, realizing he had just walked into a trap.

"You didn't tell her?"

"There's nothing to tell!"

"Tell me what? What is everyone hiding?"

Haku shrugged, he had put himself in enough trouble in just one minute, he didn't have the patience to deal with two crazy girls.

"It's too early for this. I need some coffee"

He might have to call his unaware boyfriend that was sitting in the kitchen in a semi-comatose stat for help if they decided to gang up on him.

Naruko was aware that Sakura might never let her out of there if she didn't come up with something very quickly.

"I fell down the stairs, Haku heard me and helped me to get back in the apartment and that's why he was worried, he was scared that I hit my head, but fortunately i fell on my butt"

"Yeah...I've been telling Zabuza to fix those steps for a while now, but he still didn't do it...that lazy ass"

Sakura looked at both of them, her lips pursed and arms folded on her chest, it was clear she didn't believe them.

"Fine, have it your way. I will go and interrogate Zabuza, maybe he'll be more talkative"

She walked out of the room and Haku didn't do anything to stop her, which made Naruko raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Does Zabuza know not to tell her?"

"Nah, but he won't. He doesn't even know where he's at at the moment"

That didn't really help in reassuring the blonde, and Haku rolled his eyes,

"He couldn't tell her even if he wanted to, so don't worry. But, that leads me to this question. What was going on exactly? It's the first time I have seen an expression on Uchiha's face since I've known him, and he never approaches anyone the way he did you. How do you know him?"

The girl looked at the man, a confused expression on her face.

"You were there, the day he beat his brother up in the bar"

Haku sighed and leaned his hands on the girl's shoulder. He didn't want to force her to confess anything, but he couldn't hide his concern for her. She looked so shook the night before, and even now he could still see confusion in her eyes. He didn't know what had happened between her and the Uchiha but it had definitely left a scar.

"But that wasn't the first time you met him wasn't it? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to but...please, do yourself a favor and stay the hell away from him, okay?" his voice sounded a little sweeter and his eyes softened at her lost expression.

Naruko nodded, but she knew somewhere in her heart that keeping that promise was going to be hard. She would eventually face him again, it was inevitable, he came in and out of Kubiriocho as if it was his second home, how could she try to stay away from him? She knew that the meeting of the night before had been a turning point in their non-existent relationship. She couldn't ignore that it happened, it just wasn't how she worked. She had seen something in him that cried for help, how could she ignore that?

She looked at Haku, her eyes shiny from the tears that she was trying so hard to hold on to, she didn't know why she was so emotional, but suddenly making that promise felt like the hardest thing that she had ever done.

"I will try"

Author's note

Hello my lovelies!

I'm so sorry for this huge delay, but I've had a few things that were keeping me occupied during these long months. Don't worry, I didn't forget this story or "Quarantine in Love?" it's just that my time has been so limited that I didn't have the time to dedicate the right amount of attention to them. I will do my best to update more frequently know that I am a little bit more free. I want to thank all of you for putting up with me, I read all your reviews and I just want to know how much I appreciate them and you guys! It means a lot to me that all of you like or love this story just as much as I do!

So, thank you all again, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it took me a while to complete it, but here it is!

As usual, leave a review, or even some criticism if you have any, it's always helpful!

Thank you!

Until next time,

DarkShadows92