Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Ranma ½. I do have a few of my own characters in here though, so I would appreciate it if you asked before using them.

Notes

This was originally done for NanoWrimo in 2007. With this story I made the word count!

Characters form Ranma ½ and Naruto may be out of character

While in the Neko-ken, characters roll their rs (I am not going to spell it that way, since it is to hard to write/read that way)

"Hi" Speaking

'Hi' Thinking

To lighthalk, TenWings -- Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate it!

To Kilroy777 – Good Idea, but I have a better plan for him.

To Kirallie – I am not sure how much of a part she will play yet, I haven't gotten that far.

Painful Pasts and New Beginnings

By: Shlandria

Chapter 10

Once they got there, the ANBU immediately began looking for signs of where the young Uzumaki boy had gone. Ryu just stood there sniffing the air, trying to sort through the scents he was getting for his little brother's scent. After a couple of minutes, he crouched down and began sniffing near the ground. It took a few minutes, but he finally found his otouto's scent.

While the ANBU were having absolutely no luck finding signs of trail to follow, Ryu was having plenty. "I found otouto's scent, I can find him now." Ryu told the ANBU. "Are you absolutely sure?" The leader said. "Yes, I know otouto's scent. I will find him." Ryu said with absolute confidence. "Alright, lead the way then." The leader of the ANBU team said.

They followed Ryu through back alleys, rooftops, training grounds, and even parts of the forest. Some times they had to double back, other times they had to wait for Ryu to find the trail again, this was usually when they encountered a stream, or river, though there were a few times the trail went straight up, either to a roof or into the trees. Naruto's trail practically wound all over Konohagaakure no sato, twice over.

Finally, they had found exactly where Naruto had actually gone. They had ended up on the outskirts of the village, in a place surrounded by trees. Ryu knew immediately where they were, and gave a feral grin. "Home, otouto found it!" He said a bit happier now. "Home, Ryu? What do you mean by that, and where exactly are we?" One of the ANBU asked. They were all curious; none of them had ever been here before. They had thought it was just part of the forest, not someone's home. "Yes, home, my home, this is my territory. My lair is here. Right now we are near the edge of my territory." Ryu said looking at the ANBU. "Stayhere, I will see if otouto found the lair. If he's there, I'll bring him here, if he's not I'll come back and let you know." Ryu ordered with a slight warning growl.

Ryu then left them and headed towards his lair, he didn't get very far however, before the ANBU ignored his warning, deciding to explore a bit. They had only gotten twenty feet further in before they were confronted by an angry Ryu. He came tearing at them growling and letting loose an angry, feral roar.

They were lucky they had excellent reflexes or else they would have been sliced to ribbons by Ryu's ki claws. As it was, they didn't get away unscathed, Ryu managed to give them all a few cuts and bruises as he chased them back even further than where he had left them. Ryu had chased them twenty feet from the edge of his territory. They had had to defend themselves the whole time as well, trying to calm him down.

Once they were far enough away from his territory, he stopped and growled feraly at them. Glaring at them, he growled out "I told you to stay put! I told you this for a reason. This is MY TERRITORY! See this line?" he then proceeded to draw a small line in the ground, "Do NOT cross it!" He was so angry, his cat ears were out and flat against his head and his tail out and lashing back and forth showing his displeasure. The ANBU knew better than to push him on this matter, he was quite dangerous when he wanted to be. The only reason they were as well off as they were, was because he trusted them to an extent and they knew it.

Satisfied that they were not going to disobey him again, Ryu took off again, intent on checking his lair for his otouto. Since this was his territory, he knew it very well and so he knew how to get to his lair quickly.

Hislair was a house built to blend into the forest. You could literally be right on top of it and not know it. It was built in and around a natural cave system and some huge trees. Some of the trees were actually hollowed out, though still alive, and used as part of the lair. The entrances and exits were basically invisible, unless you knew where to look, they were so well hidden.

Once he got there, he searched the place very thoroughly; however there was no sign of Naruto, not even a trace of his scent. "Damn, and here I thought he would be here, guess he's else where, though this is the safest place to be, just being in my territory, he is extremely safe." Ryu thought to himself.

Though he was angry at the ANBU, he wasn't one to break his word, so Ryu headed back to where he had left them to let them know that Naruto wasn't in his lair. He headed back towards them, knowing they had actually listened this time. Like any wild animal, he knew when someone or something uninvited entered his territory, and they hadn't. It didn't take him long to get back to them.

He looked at them and growled to let them know he was still angry with them. Then he said "My otouto is not in my lair, I checked. "Do you know where he might be?" The head ANBU asked him. "No, all I know is that he is somewhere in my territory." Ryu replied. "Then we should split up, we will cover more ground that way and find him faster." The ANBU said. At this Ryu let out a feral growl.

"No,I will look otouto. This is my territory and you are not allowed to enter here." He growled out. When it looked like they were about to argue with him he let out another feral growl. When one of them tried to get closer to him, he roared at them. "I will find him, I know my territory, I know the bestand safest places to hide here, I will find otouto and bring him back here. Do. Not. Enter. My. Territory!" He said growling at them, his tail lashing back and forth, and showing his fangs, letting them know he meant business.

Once he was sure they would stay, he left in search of his little brother. He looked in nearly every hiding place there was and found Naruto in a cave. This cave's entrance was very well concealed; no one else would have found it. Ryu could smell fear coming from his otouto, and so he did what he could to calm him down.

He began making calming noises between purring and talking to Naruto. "It's ok now chibi kit, I'm here now, everything will be ok." Ryu kept telling Naruto, until the boy looked at him and recognized him. "Aniki? Aniki, I'm scared." Naruto said. "No one else is here chibi kit; it's just you and I. It's ok, I promised I wouldn't let anyone hurt you didn't I?" Ryu said in a calming voice. "Yes aniki, you did." Naruto said.

While he was trying to calm his little brother down, he slowly crept forward, closer and closer to the frightened boy. When he had gotten close enough, he wrapped his arms around Naruto and held him close, in a comforting hug, occasionally rubbing the boy's back and nuzzling him gently. It took a while however for Naruto to finally calm down.

"Kit, how did you find this place?" Ryu asked Naruto in curiosity. "I did what you said to and ran aniki, I don't know where we are though, it just felt safe here." Naruto replied. "This place isn't some place forbidden is it? Are you mad at me?" he said. "No kit, I'm not mad at you, I'm proud of you. Though to most people this place is forbidden, it never will be to you." Ryu told Naruto. "What do you mean big brother?" Naruto asked. "This place is in my territory, no one is allowed here without my permission. I'm very proud of you for hiding here. You listened to your instincts, that's good." Ryu explained.

"Oh, ok. Um, aniki what do we do now?" Naruto asked. "We still haven't gotten my stuff and what about the villagers?" Naruto said worried, and not really wanting to go back into town. "First we'll go to the edge of my territory and meet up with the team of ANBU that I left there. Then we'll go to the Hokage's tower and see jiji. After that we'll go and get you at least one set of clothing and some pajamas from your apartment. Then we will go home and to bed chibi kit." Ryu replied. "Do we have to big brother? I really don't want to deal with the villagers right now. What if they attack us again?" Naruto said worriedly.

"The villagers will do nothing. The ones that attacked us are with jiji right now, and that's why we need to go there. Don't worry little brother, they will not harm you, and they will be punished for what they have done." Ryu said. "Now come on, it's getting late." Ryu said picking his little brother up and carrying him out of the cave and towards the waiting ANBU. Naruto just wrapped his arms around his big brother's neck and buried his face in Ryu's shoulder. He really wasn't ready to face the world just yet.

When they made it to the edge of Ryu's territory, the ANBU saw Ryu carrying Naruto, who was clinging to him and had his face hidden against Ryu's shoulder. "I told you I would find my otouto." Ryu said in a calm voice, his ears and tail gone. "Come on, it's getting late and we have things we need to do." Ryu said to the ANBU, before taking off expecting them to follow him.

They did follow him, and saw that he headed straight for the Hokage's tower. It didn't take them long to catch up and when they did, they heard him saying to Naruto. "Don't worry otouto, jiji will make everything ok, and I will keep you safe." As he nuzzled the boy gently, doing his best to keep his otouto from getting too scared.

It didn't take them very long to get to the Hokage tower, and the Sandamie's office. "We're back jiji. I told you I could find my little brother." Ryu said to the Hokage. Ryu then carried his otouto to the front of his jiji's desk and sat down on the desk, ignoring the protests of several villagers and ANBU alike.