A/N - a great big thank you to solitarywarrior for giving me the Japaneseword for forehead protector. :):):)
Also, I redid chapter 4 a little bit. I was using a wrong word and I rewrote the fight between Hinata and Kyiara and Neji so it made more sense.
I do not own Naruto.
It was dark out. Tired and hungry, Naruto dug through his pantry, looking for a ramen cup. His hand brushed the back of the cupboard; it was empty. He growled angrily, "I thought I had one more in here…"
It wouldn't hurt you to eat something healthy occasionally, kit.
"Kyuubi! What's wrong with ramen?"
Naruto heard the fox snort impatiently. Eating nothing but noodles with that fake flavoring crap is doing nothing for your body other than satisfying your palate. No wonder you're weak.
"Hey! I'm not weak! I survived the Chuunin Exams!"
Barely, kit. And you needed me for both the fight with the Sand guy with a demon inside of him and with that Uchiha kid. If you want to become stronger, than change your eating habits would be a great start! You-
The Kyuubi broke off his criticism, listening to something. "What is it, fox?" Naruto demanded. The Kyuubi didn't answer right away. There is someone else in this building other than us. And whoever it is a story below us, and headed this way.
Naruto dashed to the door and yanked it open just as the intruder topped the stairs just to the left of his apartment. "AH, HAH! GOT YOU!" Naruto screeched at the top of his lungs, flinging a kunai at the shadowy figure. The figure jumped in surprise and raised their hands into a defensive position. The figure saw the kunai at the last moment and snatched it out of the air.
"Who's there?" a female voice demanded.
That surprised Naruto. "Who are you?"
"Uzumaki Naruto? Is that you?" the figure asked, approaching slowly.
"Yeah, what of it?" Naruto challenged.
"Nothing. I just thought this place was abandoned. That's one of the reasons why I chose to try and find a descent room to sleep in."
The female stranger stepped into the light cast from Naruto's apartment; Kyiara.
Naruto eyed her nervously. She cocked her head at him. "What is it?"
"Y-your eyes-" he muttered.
Kyiara blinked, remembering that she had activated the Sharingan. "Sorry. Sharingan allows me to see in the dark. I didn't want to draw unwanted attention to myself, so I figured I'd find an apartment in halfway decent shape and stay there until the Hokage tells me to do otherwise." Her eyes went back to their original black hue.
What's the matter, kit? the Kyuubi chided. Are you scared of a female who is as lonely as you are? She hasn't done anything to you and doesn't appear to want to, so relax!
"Not yet, anyway." Naruto retorted out loud. Then he gulped, realizing his mistake. He looked up at Kyiara. She was smiling slightly. "Is the Kyuubi talking about me to you?"
Naruto jumped severely. "N-nane? How do you know about the Kyuubi?"
"I was almost four when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village. I heard the adults talking about it. I was punished by them if I asked any questions, except by my brother. He told me what really happened."
She held out her hand; in it was clutched the kunai he had thrown at her. Blood was dripping from her hand.
"You're bleeding! I have some bandages, if you want." Naruto offered impulsively. He heard the Kyuubi make a satisfied sigh. Kyiara shook her head as he took the kunai from her. "No thank you, Naruto. I can heal myself pretty quick." She showed him her palm; it was healing itself, closing up the wound. Chakra was glowing faintly around the wound. Kyiara was frowning slightly. "Especially if I'm the one who causes the wounds, then they heal extremely fast and against my will."
Why would she try to purposely hurt herself? Naruto asked himself as Kyiara waved goodnight, having declined Naruto's offer of staying in his apartment. and headed for the next floor. Even kill herself?
Idiotic kit, the Kyuubi answered. If you were being held captive by Orochimaru and had failed many times at escaping, wouldn't you resort to such measures?
"I would never let myself get caught in the first place!" Naruto retorted. "And besides, even if I did get caught, I would have you to help me."
But if you didn't have me and was unable to escape, would you do what she did?
Naruto thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I guess I would." Changing the subject, he said, "She didn't seem to hate me for having you sealed up inside of me. She was nice."
Inside of him, the Kyuubi nodded in agreement. Yes, she was nice. And she also knows how you feel. The only family she had was her brother and he's gone to Orochimaru. Now that she's back, many of the villagers are going to blame her for what her brother did to the village. She will become the object of their hate for what Orochimaru tried to do to Konoha with the help of her elder brother. Just like you became the object of their hate for what I did.
"I will become her friend so she isn't alone!" Naruto vowed as he got ready for bed on an empty stomach. "I will be there for her! She will be one of my precious people!"
That's my kit, the Kyuubi replied, smiling softly.
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Early the next morning Hinata headed for the practice area where Kiba, Shino and herself had agreed to meet. It was cool out, the autumn chill getting a firm grip on Konoha. She winced as she tightened her jacket around her thin frame when a particularly cold blast made her shiver; her father had insisted, or rather, ordered her to have a training session with him when she had arrived home the night before. Some of her chakra points were still closed.
Passing a group of adults, she heard one of the saying, "Remember that little girl who was in Genma's genin group? The one whom they never found a body? She's back! One of the mission teams found her and brought her back."
"Isn't she the traitor Kabuto's little sister?"
The first one nodded. "And you'll never guess where she was. With Orochimaru! She says that she was held against her will, but she could've escaped. According to one of my friends who works at the hospital, she has very strong chakra. She went to him for power just like her brother!"
The people around the speaker gasped. "That little bitch! She's a traitor just like her brother!" one of them shouted.
"I know I won't be too kind to her when I see her," the speaker said. "People like her and that demon boy should been driven out of here or killed. We don't want them corrupting our young!"
Hinata moved on, the adults words stinging her conscious, remembering the words she had spoken to Kyiara the night before. Unlike the adults, she knew that Kyiara had been taken by Orochimaru against her will, and that she would never have gone with him or to him, given the chance. She was not like Uchiha Sasuke, who wanted power so bad that he was willing to lose his own soul to get it. The villagers would probably welcome him back with open arms if he ever returned to Konoha.
"Hinata-san!"
Hinata turned, smiling as she recognized the voice of Kiba. He waved at her as he crossed the street accompanied by their third teammate, Shino, who just nodded to her. Akamaru was tucked into the front of Kiba's jacket just like he always was.
"Hinata-san, Shino told me what happened on your mission. Neji isn't giving you any trouble, is he?"
Silently, Hinata shook her head. She appreciated his concern, but she didn't want his to get hurt for her sake. She would handle whatever Neji or anyone else in her family threw at her. She hoped.
A figure in black was walking parallel to them on the opposite side of the street. Hinata called out, "Good morning, Kyiara-san! Why don't you walk with us?"
The look of surprise was evident in the other female genin's eyes, but she crossed the street to join them. Kiba and Shino nodded to her, but didn't object to her presence.
Softly, Hinata said, "K-Kyiara-san, I'm sorry about last night. I-"
It's okay, Hinata-san." Kyiara interrupted. "I understand. I'm just glad you decided that you still want to be my friend."
Hinata smiled. "Did you find a place to stay for the night, Kyiara-san?"
Kyiara shrugged. "In a way. One of the empty apartment buildings in the northern part of the village is in pretty good shape, though the building isn't abandoned like I thought it was. Young Naruto-kun lives there."
"Naruto lives there?" Kiba asked. "I thought he'd have somewhere else to stay instead of there."
Kyiara turned to look at him. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, he's a good person for all of his obnoxious quirks and loud mouth."
Kyiara considered her next words carefully. She knew why Naruto was only able to live there; because he housed the Kyuubi. The Hokage must've ordered the owner of the building to keep the water and electricity turned on, though she was willing to bet that the owner was charging Naruto much more than was necessary. "That's true, but he doesn't have any family and not many of the adults here are willing to stick up for him, so he chooses to live out of the way."
The three genin thought about that for a moment. To everyone's surprise, Shino spoke next. "I don't understand why the villagers treated Uchiha Sasuke like he was made of glass after his clan was killed, making him an orphan and they treat Naruto like he's a demon. My bugs sense something odd about his chakra, but that's probably just his keikai genkai, since there is no one left of his clan that I know of to compare his chakra to."
That must be the Kyuubi's chakra he's talking about, Kyiara thought to herself. At least the bugs can't tell that it's demon chakra. Yet, anyways.
"Um, Kyiara-san?" Hinata asked softly. "Do you want to train with us? If it's okay with Kiba-kun and Shino-kun?" She glanced at her teammates, who nodded.
Kyiara shook her head. "I would like to, but the Hokage asked to speak to me. Maybe this afternoon?" For the first time she noticed how Hinata was holding her body. "Hinata-san, are you okay?"
"M-my father trained me a little last night…"
"I'll wager it was more than a little." Kiba muttered angrily under his breath.
Kyiara glanced over at Kiba before placing her hands on Hinata's shoulders. "Do you want me to heal you?"
Hinata shook her head. "You can't. It's just my chakra points that are closed off. They should reopen today or tomorrow. That isn't something you can fix."
Kyiara nodded. "Okay. I'll see you three later." She started to cross the street. Then Hinata remembered the conversation she had overheard. "Kyiara-san!"
Kyiara halted. "Yes?"
Quickly she repeated as much of the conversation as she could remember to Kyiara, Shino and Kiba.
Kyiara sighed when Hinata finished. "I expected as much. I'll just have to prove that I am loyal to Konoha and not to…Orochimaru." She tried to smile. "Thank you for telling me. I'll see the three of you later."
Tsunade and Shizune were in the Hokage office, going through paperwork. Or rather, Shizune was trying to get Tsunade to read the mission reports while Tsunade sipped sake and tried to ignore the tall stacks of papers and files on her desk.
"Tsunade-sama, you are almost a week behind already! If you let this fall behind any more-"
Tsunade waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. You'll hang me by my ankles over a well, or something."
Shizune gasped. "I would never do such a thing to you, Tsunade-sama!"
A knock at the door kept the Hokage from answering. Shizune got up and opened the door to admit Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Anko.
"You said yesterday that you wished to speak to us, Hokage-sama?" Anko asked.
Tsunade nodded. "I want you to listen very closely to what I have to say. There is-" she frowned. "KAKASHI! DON'T READ THOSE DIRTY BOOKS IN THIS OFFICE, ESPECIALLY WHEN I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY!"
Kakashi looked up. "Hn, you say something, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade looked ready to explode from anger, and Tsunade angry was not a pretty sight. A knock at the door kept her from yelling at Kakashi again. The door burst open and someone (A/N, guess who) yelled, "YOSH! The youthful green beast of Konoha has arrived!"
Gai glanced around the room until his burning eyes fell upon his life-long rival. "YOSH, KAKASHI! You should be out experiencing the fire of youth rather than reading those naughty books of yours! I hereby challenge you-"
"Gai, shut up!" Tsunade shouted. He fell silent and turned to pay attention to her. "As you might have heard from the rumors, Yakushi Kyiara was found two days ago by Shikamaru's mission group. She is the sole survivor of Genma's only genin group." She eyed the jounin, gauging their reactions. "She was captured and experimented on by Orochimaru against her will."
"So, then she didn't go to him?" Asuma asked, puffing of his cigarette. "Rumor has it that she went with him willingly after he killed her teammates."
Tsunade glared at him. "And since when do my jounin believe rumors over facts?"
Before Asuma or any of the others could answer her, someone else knocked at the door, but this time waited to me invited in. Tsunade looked up. "Who is it?" she snapped.
"Yakushi Kyiara, Hokage-sama." a somewhat timid voice said.
"Come in."
The door opened and Kyiara entered the room, closing the door behind her. She was wearing the simple black clothing Tsunade had left for her, her battered hitai-ate tied around her head, her loose shoulder length silver hair hiding most of the band.
She halted, eyeing the gathered jounin warily. Tsunade, noticing her uneasiness decided to introduce those present. "Kyiara, I would like you to meet Shizune, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai and Anko." Tsunade motioned to each of the jounin in turn.
Kyiara looked at each of them in turn and bowed slightly. Last of all she bowed to Anko, making eye contact. Suddenly, Kyiara felt a sharp pain on her left shoulder where her curse seal was etched into her skin. She bit her lip and fought back, trying to keep it from opening up. The last thing she needed was the jounin to see that she had a curse seal. She took a step back, away from Tsunade and the others as ink black ivy vines started to cross he neck her eyes flashing from their typical black to Sharingan red to Byakugan and back again.