Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Elfen Lied… I'm pretty sure I don't…
Hey everyone, its xNamikazeKyuubix back again with the next instalment of Naruto: Vectors of Fire! I'm pretty sure most of you are wondering why I chose this title for the story, well that is going to become clear in this chapter. Thanks everyone that reviewed this story, I'm glad that you enjoyed it! And there is a severe lack of Naruto/Elfen Lied stories... hopefully this story might inspire more people to write!
So anyway, this chapter is rather short but it is essential for plot development so it is a must read! With further ado, let's get on with the show! ^^
Chapter 1: Pyrokinesis
Naruto, age five…
"What are you doing here; get back to your corner child!" The matron of the orphanage hissed at a blonde haired boy. Naruto sighed sadly as he walked away from the obviously hostile woman, who he could feel glaring daggers at his back.
'Ever since this new lady took over, it's just been one problem after another… counting today, this has been the fortieth time I have been denied food.' Naruto thought to himself as he sneaked out of the orphanage via an open window and dropped into a dusty alleyway that was besides the orphanage building; luckily for him it was empty. 'Not only food but also my education… if I wasn't so naturally gifted in intelligence then I would have been a bumbling idiot.'
'Thanks to her, I have to sneak out and steal food just to get by…' Naruto pulled the hood of his improvised cloak over his head to hide the two fox appendages on top his head. 'All just because of this pair of stupid fox-ears on my head… I can't even play with the other kids because they think I'm weird…'
Naruto poked his head out of the alleyway and checked to make sure that the street wasn't too crowded before walking out, his lack of height worked in his favour in this instance. Naruto walked past a puddle before backtracking and looking at his reflection in the water, a pair of crimson slitted pupils looked back at him.
'What's wrong with the way I look… stupid people…' Naruto growled inwardly as he resumed his walk towards the market district within Konohagakure. The sun had set an hour ago and the streets were dimly lit by streetlamps along the pathway, Naruto clenched his fists as he observed families chatting away happily as they strolled around.
'Did my parents abandon me too…?' Naruto took a deep breath and sighed before relaxing, he turned a corner to find a store selling raw meat. Naruto entered the store and bided his time until he saw the owner distracted by another customer; he quickly shot a hand forward and grabbed a slab of raw meat before pulling it back under his cloak. He managed to exit the store unnoticed and heaved a sigh of relief before retreating to Konoha's national park, he sat under one of the trees while devouring his dinner.
Naruto lay on the grassy field and looked up at the night sky, he was about to drift to sleep when…
"Hi!" A girl's head suddenly appeared in his field of vision causing Naruto's eyebrow to start twitching as he tried to get the ringing out of his sensitive ears.
"What do you want?" Naruto asked as he sat back up and turned to face the girl, who looked to be around his age and had long black hair.
"I saw you here by yourself and came to ask you to play with me!" The girl replied with a sincere smile.
"It's pretty late at night, where are your parents?" Naruto asked suspiciously causing the girl to adopt a sad expression.
"Tou-san and Kaa-san always shout at each other so I run away by using my room window…" She shuffled her feet unconsciously, obviously being uncomfortable about the subject.
"Oh… so what's your name?" Naruto changed the flow of the conversation.
"My name is Kara, Uchiha Kara!" Kara declared proudly as she jerked a thumb to herself.
"I see, well my name is Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said and was about to offer her a hand to shake when Kara glomped him with a hug. Unfortunately the hug knocked his hood loose and thus revealed his pair of fox ears, Naruto sighed in resignation and waited for Kara to scream or something.
"Kawaii! (Cute!)" Kara squealed as she looked at the orange fox ears on top his head with wide eyes. "Naruto-kun has cute, fluffy ears!"
"C-cute? You don't find them weird?" Naruto asked almost shyly since nobody ever complimented his pair of fox-like ears before.
"Nope! They are soft and fluffy like my plushy (Childish way of referring to a plush toy.)!" Kara exclaimed before looking at Naruto with wide eyes and a quivering lower lip. "Can I pet them Naruto-kun?"
"Umm, I guess it wouldn't hurt…" Naruto replied a little unsurely as he hadn't let anyone near his ears before but that doubt disappeared when Kara started stroking his ears. The pleasure of feeling her soft hands gliding over his furry ears caused him to unconsciously let out a purr of approval, Naruto quickly slapped his hands over his mouth the moment he realised that.
Kara just let out a small giggle, "You made a noise like that cat near my house when I pet it."
"I don't know- I mean it just happened and I couldn't control it!" Naruto blushed in embarrassment.
"Don't worry I won't tell anyone, it will be our little secret." Kara told him before flicking him on the nose and running away. "You're it, catch me if you can! Hahaha!"
Naruto spent the next hour or so playing tag and other kinds of games with his newfound friend but as the saying goes 'all good things must come to an end' and that it did.
"I have to get back home now since Kaa-san checks up on me around this time!" Kara bounced up onto her feet from her previous prone position on the ground.
"Oh I see…" Naruto whispered sadly, which Kara seemed to pick up.
"Don't be sad…I know! How about we meet back here again after dinner every day so we can play or just talk?" Kara suggested causing Naruto to brighten up considerably.
"Really? You mean it?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"Yup! Well see you tomorrow Naruto-kun!" Kara shouted with a wave as she ran in the direction of her home, leaving a happy Naruto to find his way back to the orphanage.
Naruto ducked back into the alleyway before grabbing onto the window ledge and pulling himself back through the window, he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the orphanage staff hadn't noticed his little escapade. He crept back into the isolated room that had been assigned to him and lay down on the stiff mattress on the ground before curling up and falling asleep with a small smile on his face.
The following evening
Naruto escaped once again through the same window that he always used, dropping into the alleyway with his hood pulled up and then made his way towards the place he had met Kara. He had managed to snag a bag of groceries from a random civilian that he had passed, he ate the package of raw beef and threw away the vegetables in it. Apparently he discovered that his stomach couldn't handle vegetables and eating them would just make him sick, so he just disposed of them.
Naruto looked out from under his hood and looked around for his friend but only spotted several couples and a few families taking a stroll, no Kara.
'I knew it… she's probably like everybody else and tricked me, she probably-'
"Naruto-kun!" A voice called out thus interrupting his train of depressing thoughts, Naruto turned towards the source and saw Kara running towards him.
"She came…" Naruto whispered to himself with a small smile gracing his usually emotionless face.
"Sorry for being so late, my parents weren't arguing today so I had to wait for an opportunity to run away." Kara apologised while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"That's alright." Naruto waved off her apology with a hand causing a grin to appear on the young girl's face.
"So what do you want to play today?"
"Anything is fine with me." Naruto replied with a small shrug.
"Let's play hide and seek! I will hide first and you have to find me, the entire park will be our playground." Kara explained before dashing away into the nearby bushes, leaving an amused looking Naruto to close his eyes and start counting down from twenty mentally.
Once the twenty seconds was up, Naruto calmly walked in the direction where Kara had left and crouched down to observe the leaves on the ground.
'There is a trail of crushed leaves that means she went that way…' Naruto deduced as he stood back up and followed the trail of crushed leaves. The trail led to another part of the park with large trees before suddenly ending, Naruto looked around confused as he scanned the surroundings for any sign of his raven-haired friend.
Naruto searched for a few seconds before pausing and started to sniff the air, his enhanced sense of smell allowed him to easily pick up the scent of his friend. He followed the scent back to where the trail ended and looked up the tree trunk to find Kara sitting on a tree branch with a pout on her face.
"How did you find me so easily?"
Naruto tapped his nose, "All my senses are enhanced to a point greater than an Inuzuka's so I simply used my nose to follow your smell."
"That's so cool! Hold on while I climb back down…" Kara told him as she tried to find a safe way down but froze up suddenly when she looked down the tree trunk.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked the raven-haired girl.
Kara sat back down on the branch before taking a deep breath, "Sorry Naruto-kun, I just remembered that I'm afraid of heights…"
Naruto let out a soft sigh before climbing up the tree towards Kara's position and scooped her up into his arms bridal style, "Then I just have to get you down myself."
"B-but Naruto-kun, how are you going to get down now that you're carrying me?" Kara asked with a pink tinge on her face as she unconsciously snuggled deeper into his arms.
"Easy… like this!" Naruto shouted as he leapt off the branch causing Kara to let out a high-pitched squeal of fright, he landed perfectly on his feet without suffering any injuries.
He placed Kara back on her feet as she placed a hand on her chest to steady her rapidly beating heart whilst levelling a light glare at the clearly amused blonde. Naruto looked at her in confusion as she marched straight up to him before bopping him on the head with a fist.
"Itai! What was that for!"
"That's for not warning me before doing something so…so stupid!" Kara huffed with a pout on her face causing Naruto to snicker, prompting another bop on the head courtesy of the raven-haired girl. "Okay, okay I'm sorry. Stop hitting my head already!"
"Good, now it's your turn to hide and my turn to find you!" Kara exclaimed happily before closing her eyes and counting down. And so the two spend the remainder of the day playing together until it was time for Kara to return home, they promised to meet up every evening from then onwards.
Naruto, age six
A year had gone by fairly quickly for the young demon lord, he had spent most of his evenings playing with Kara and comforting her whenever she got scared by her parents' violent arguments. Today was his birthday and Kara wanted to buy him a present, he had declined politely but the girl's stubbornness won out eventually.
Naruto was dressed in a small black cloak that Kara had 'liberated' from one of her cousin's wardrobe, it was more comfortable and hid his ears better than his old improvised one. He sat on his usual spot on the lowest branch of the willow tree beside the lake in the park, his crimson eyes already fixed on the horizon where a figure was approaching.
"Did I make you wait Naruto-kun?" Kara asked worriedly.
"No, I was here for most of the day training already..." He reassured the onyx-eyed girl, who grinned cheerfully at his reply.
"Alright then, let's go to the festival so I can buy you a gift!" She shouted excitedly as she dragged the blonde along by the wrist.
As the pair walked throughout the festival celebrating the heroic actions of their Yondaime Hokage, the glares of many of the villagers fell onto the blonde child but looked away when they noticed the Uchiha by his side.
'Seems like the dumbasses respect the Uchiha clan enough not to confront me when I'm accompanying one of them... this may not be such a bad idea after all.' Naruto thought to himself, not knowing that he would regret his words later.
"Naruto-kun, look what I got for you!" Kara's gleeful voice broke him out of his own thoughts as he turned around to see an object in her hands. Upon closer inspection he realised that it was a necklace with the kanji for 'fire' dangling at the end, he took it silently and placed it around his neck.
"...arigatou Kara-chan I love it." Naruto said as he smiled genuinely at his friend.
Kara just returned the smile happily before tugging the blonde off to another store and so the duo spent the next hour or so roaming the festival streets and then watched the fireworks. As it was getting late, Naruto decided to walk her back home just to be on the safe side.
However things took a turn for the worse when they found themselves surrounded by Konohagakure Chunnin, a quick look around confirmed that they were all drunk beyond reason. The fox demon quickly put a protective arm in front of his companion, which only prompted a laugh from the intoxicated shinobi.
"Hey fellas... look at the demon brat... trying to protect his whore... how adorable... Hahaha..." A Chunnin chuckled as he pulled a kunai out from his weapons pouch.
"Yeah... we've had enough of you... prancing around with the Uchiha slut... like you own the place..." Another Chunnin slurred out as he cracked his knuckles menacingly, a vicious gleam in his eyes.
"Tonight we're going to... finish what... the Yondaime started... and kill you and your... demon-loving whore..." The Chunnin holding a katana stated.
Naruto assessed the situation quickly before pulling Kara close to him and whispered into her ear, "Listen carefully, once I distracted this fools. I want you to run as fast as you can back to your clan district and into your house. Shh no buts... I can handle myself."
Kara reluctantly nodded as she prepared to make a break for it, her mind falling back to the training sessions she had with Naruto to counter any moves made towards her.
With a silent command, the group of Chunnin rushed towards the cloaked blonde. Drunken or not, five veteran Chunnins were more than a self-taught child could handle and it showed immediately. Naruto managed to fend off the first wave of attacks before being hit in his blind spot by a metal pipe, his vision swam for a moment but it was enough for one of them to land a devastating uppercut to his chin.
"Kara... RUN!" Naruto yelled in his semi-conscious state, shocking the petrified girl out of her frozen state. She turned around and sprinted around the corner only to run into a tall and bulky Chunnin, she tried to back away but was seized roughly around the neck and carried back to the group.
"Hey guys look what I caught..." The muscle-bound shinobi held up the squirming girl by the neck causing the blonde's eyes to fly open in shock.
"Let... her go... she has nothing to do with this..." Naruto panted slightly as he propped himself up against a wall.
"No can do... she has shown her true colours... as a demon-lover... so she has to... pay the price..." The katana Chunnin spat as he stepped towards the captured girl, his katana gleaming in the moonlight.
"Stop... don't hurt her! I'm the one you want!" Naruto pleaded desperately as he limped towards the katana-wielder only to be punched in the stomach, doubling him over as he spat out a wad of blood onto the ground.
"Say goodnight you... demon-loving whore..." The Chunnin cackled insanely as he swung his blade in a clean arc, separating the Uchiha's head from the rest of her body. The brutish Chunnin sneered as he dropped the severed head next to the body, giving it a kick as it rolled right up to the injured boy's face.
"Kara-chan..." Naruto whispered with tears entering his vision, his eyes forever burning the image of Kara's severed head and glossed over eyes staring at him.
"Why... why... just because I was born like this... I was treated differently... like a demon... I couldn't get any friends... and the only one I had... was killed right in front of me..." Naruto clenched his fists as he stumbled back up to his feet, glowing crimson orbs peeking out from beneath his bangs.
"Good... you deserve it... you demonic scum!" The kunai-wielding Chunnin shouted.
"Demon... demon... that's all you mutter... since you so strongly believe me to be one... I'LL SHOW YOU A REAL DEMON!" Naruto roared in rage as his cloaked body swam with crimson energy.
In the Hokage's office
Sarutobi Hiruzen was finishing up the last of his paperwork and looked at the clock on the wall, 'Right on time. Now I have enough time to drop by the festival and get Naruto something for his birthday...'
Just as he was about to leave the office, his eyes widened when he felt an oppressive and suffocating aura from somewhere in the village. He quickly spun around and scanned the village through the window before his eyes focused on one specific point, an area where a crimson aura was emanating from.
'That's the Kyuubi's chakra... that must mean something must have happened to Naruto that caused him to tap into his powers so early!' The Sandaime cursed but before he could issue an order to his hidden ANBU team, a bright light blinded him.
Quickly blinking the spots from his vision, Hiruzen and the hidden ANBU were gawking at the sight before them. Right where the crimson aura had been a moment ago now was a giant spiralling pillar of burning hot orange and yellow flames.
"ANBU move out!" He ordered without hesitation as he too leapt out his window, throwing off his ceremonial robes to reveal his black battle armour underneath.
With Naruto
The kitsune demon panted as he surveyed his surroundings with shocked eyes, he had just felt a surge of power flow through him when suddenly he just... erupted. Now the buildings around him and the ground had been charred black in colour, the Chunnins as well as the corpse of his first and only friend had been reduced to nothing but blackened skeletons.
"D-damn it... what the fuck was that..." Naruto growled as he looked at his still smoking hands, as if expecting an answer to emerge from them. 'Okay enough time to think later... get the hell out of here now!'
He wisely chose to follow his brain as he hightailed it out of there, his newly unlocked youki granting him speed as he sprinted faster than he ever could before. Next thing he knew, he was in front of a rather worn-down looking apartment building that looked like it had seen better days.
Deciding that it was better than nothing, Naruto stumbled into one of the apartments and slumped against the wall and curled up in one corner. He held up one of his hands in front of him, trying to tap into that warmth of power that had surged through his body just now.
No sooner had he located it that a stream of fire shot out of his palm and burned through the wall separating the bedroom from the kitchen. Naruto gazed curiously at the still burning hole in the wall; something about the flames seemed to be calling to him... like a tugging in the back of his mind.
Unconsciously he raised up his hand and closed it into a fist, he watched in amazement as the flames on the wall detached and formed into a small ball of fire. Moving his fist around, the ball of fire followed his movements exactly before releasing his fist and the flames dissipated into the air.
'...I have control of fire. Not just Pyrokinesis but also the ability to create it as well...' Naruto thought as he clenched a fist around the necklace dangling around his neck. 'Kara-chan... No more... I will not let humans walk over me anymore... I have to leave this place... and train... get stronger so I can avenge her...'
Naruto wrapped the black cloak around his body tightly and pulled the hood up as he exited the apartment, taking a brisk walk towards the village gates. As luck would have it, the last merchant caravan for the day was leaving and the gate guards were preoccupied with checking the contents and passengers. The agile and stealthy blonde darted past them and out the gates before anyone even noticed he was there, he ran down the dirt path before pausing and turning around.
"This will not be the last you see of me... when I return... there will be a reckoning... a baptism by fire!"
In the village of Shinrin Oka (Forested Hill)
Kaede, age six
"No, stop!" The young pink-haired girl cried out as she saw her fellow orphan pinning her puppy to the ground, a hand holding a rock raised in the air.
"Hahaha shut up and watch, there's nothing you can do now!" The older boy holding her laughed, his larger body made it impossible for her to break free from his grip.
"I'm sorry... I thought they only wanted to play with the puppy. I didn't know it would end up getting hurt..." The girl that she thought off as her first friend whispered softly. Kaede could tell she was lying, the way her mouth twisted up in a grotesque grin just as the first blow connected with the puppy.
"Stop it!" She screamed.
The boy just sneered at her as he raised the rock and brought it down once again, a wet squelching sound accompanying it as she was forced to watch. Her horrified gaze locked onto the bleeding puppy as it whined pitifully, its paw twitched slightly as it tried to crawl towards her.
"Stop it..." Her voice hoarse from the screaming and sobbing, pink bangs falling over her face and obscuring it from sight.
"Say bye-bye to your stupid dog!" The boy yelled as he struck the final blow, crushing the defenceless puppy's head into a pulp. The other kids in the room started laughing, that is until the boy restraining her suddenly exploded into a shower of bloody ribbons.
The laughter ceased as soon as it had begun, the children all stunned into a state of shock as a blood-drenched Kaede took a step forward with her head still bowed.
"Unforgiveable... humans are unforgiveable..." She whispered. Her vibrant pink eyes that peaked out from behind her bangs slowly morphing into a glowing crimson red, her shoulders started shaking slightly.
"Perish..." Kaede growled as the children all combusted into a bloody shower that stained the entire room red.
The pink-haired child silently made her way out the door and grabbed a red raincoat from the rack and slipped it on, pulling the hood over her head. She trudged her way up to the top of the hill before turning back to look at the village, her crimson eyes glowing in the night.
"Kaede... Kaede is no more... from now on I am Lucy..." The newly dubbed Lucy glared at her former village. "This will not be the last you see of me... when I return... there will be a reckoning... a baptism by blood!"
Well it looks like I finally managed to get back to this story, sorry for the rather short chapter! I promise that the chapters will get longer as the story continues, so look forward to it!
And oh, this is me wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and your special day with your loved ones! As always, remember to review to let me know what you think!
Ja ne!