Beauty ran into the cold of the winter's night, but stopped as suddenly as she had started. While her breath made little white wisps, she hugged herself. She looked around and realized she was lost. And what made it inevitably worse was the fact that she wore an evening dress in the middle of winter. She made her way to a tree, in order to catch her breathe and orient herself. She leaned against it, but then the shadows of the trees began to move around her. Out of the trees men dropped silently, like ghosts. Quickly they surrounded and trapped her in a semicircle.

"Wha...?" said Beauty blearily.

"Girl, do you come from the Castle of the Cursed Shinobi?" said one of the dark figures.

"I...I don't know." Beauty said truthfully, the name unfamiliar to her.

"She had to, it's the only thing around here for miles." said another.

"Then," said the first, lifting a blade to her throat. "Take us to that place."

But then, another figure of bone-white dropped out of the sky in the moonlight, his color alabaster and features like stone. He quickly tore one man to shreds, then stuck another through the heart. Then everything became too fast for Beauty's eyes, and just a whirl of black and white was around her. It ended in a pile of bodies, and the Beast howling in the middle, his beautiful fur on end, and his look absolutely wild. He turned to her, and she stared back in fear. Her eyes grew wide, but she thrust herself forward, and grabbed his arm.

"STOP! Please, stop Kiba!" she hollered.

And he stopped.

♥ ♥ ♥

Back at the castle, Beauty quietly tended to the Beast's wounds. There were a few, and while not serious, they were painful and needed to be attended to. She was cleaning his wounds with hot clean, soapy water, and he made noises of pain throughout the entire time.

"So..." she started. The Beast said nothing, but growled deep in his throat. "Why did you come and save me...?"

"...because..." he started. Beauty waited a few moments, but then urged him on.

"Because...?"

"Because...I'm...so..."

Shino just came in with fresh supplies, including bandages. Beauty once again cleaned and dried his wounds while Shino set everything out, and then bowed quickly out of the room. She began wounding the strips around his wounds tightly. "Because you're what?" she prompted.

"Because I'm sorry." Beast said, his face clearly red underneath his fur. Beauty stopped midway in-between her wrapping, and impulsively kissed him on his furry snout.

♥ ♥ ♥

He instantly began to change, his face changing it's shape, and snow white fur falling off with rapidity, his hands becoming softer, smaller, but long and beautiful, and behind a very tall, wild, and red-faced young man was left. He was also completely naked. But just as Beauty realized, he grabbed her to him and kissed her back, and both closed their eyes shyly as their faces burned twin colors of red.

The End

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

Notes for the Reader
• This is a slightly promotional fanfiction for my other fanfiction, Dream.
• Please review!