Guardian Angel
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"
'Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'
A/N: Thank you all who have reviewed! First off, whats frighteners? Second, while I love Soul Eater, I really don't see how I could add that into my story. Well actually… hehehehe… Psudocode Samurai, you have just given me a wonderful idea! In respect to that, maybe Blair will make an appearance, maybe even a permanent addition, to the story along with…. Heh, you'll just have to read and find out, ne? Naruto awoke with a yawn, absently noting that his wound from yesterday had healed. He again wondered why that was until he remembered the events of last night. Slowly the blonde blinked before shaking it off. "Weirdest dream I've ever had," thought the blonde, "Besides reapers are supposed to be scary not posh voiced coots with only one eye," chuckled the blonde humorously.
"I'll have you know that the 'cold and foreboding reaper' is an untrue stereotype," stated a familiar posh voice. Surprised, Naruto whirled around to see Fredrick Huxley standing in front of, leaning on his scythe with an amused twinkle in his eye. "Now come on boy, you need a change of clothes and some food in your belly before you go to the academy," the reaper told the boy.
"Wait! I still need to get cleaned up and stuff," Naruto protested. The reaper blinked at that before chuckling.
"Sorry my boy, I had forgotten that you would need to get yourself ready, being dead does that you know," chuckled the undead. "Be quick though, I want to get you some new clothes before the academy starts," he stated seriously. Naruto smiled and nodded before going to the bathroom to get washed up.
As Naruto got prepared, Fredrick decided he would cook breakfast. Entering the small kitchen, the reaper opened the fridge to find only a carton of milk. A little confused, the reaper grabbed the carton and opened it, only to blanch and incinerate the horrid smelling dairy product on the spot. "Good lord! If I didn't know better I'd say that milk came straight from a zombie cow's festering udder!" he cried in disgust. Sighing, the reaper went to the cupboards to see what else the blonde had. Fredrick just stared at the revealed contents in the cupboard, blinking once, twice before growling in frustration. There was nothing but dozens upon dozens of instant ramen packages! "There are guilty pleasures then there's obsession," muttered Huxley before deciding it would have to do. Grabbing a random packet the skeleton started to heat up the water for the noodles. As the water boiled in the beat up kettle, Fredrick decided to write a letter to an old friend of his. As the kettle began to whistle the reaper had just finished the letter and was pocketing it in his robe. At the same time, Naruto appeared dressed in a slightly better jumpsuit then the tattered rags he had on before. Seeing the ramen, Naruto immediately gave a cry of joy and viciously attacked the cup of noodles soaked in broth.
Fredrick blinked at the boy. 'Sheesh, he's almost as bad as Gluttony at a buffet!' thought the skeleton. 'Almost like the scavengers did near the end of the old world, always eating whatever they could get as quickly as possible before someone could…' here the skeleton stopped and his eye went wide in realization.
Naruto wasn't eating so quickly due to bad habits or an obsession with the food but rather he did it out of fear, fear that he would be attacked and that this would be his only meal for a while. Fredrick sighed a bit at that, he knew Naruto's life was bad, but to learn survival habits meant for times of great strife, for his age and in the supposedly most peaceful hidden village, it was just disgusting really.
'Well, it's a good thing I came here then' thought the reaper. Seeing that the blonde had finished, the skeleton stood up. "Come on boy, we need to get to a store for some supplies and new clothes," stated Fredrick. Naruto was about to protest that the owners would just kick him out when the skeleton spoke again, "Relax my boy, the store we're going to will not care what species you are so long as you can pay the price asked,"
"Where are we going?" asked the blonde curiously. The reaper just chuckled and grabbed the knob of the front door. However, before he opened the door, Fredrick coated his hand in chakra and began drawing a seal on it. The seal was odd to Naruto, instead of the usual kanji seal, he had made a pentagram then encased it inside a pentagon with a strange seal in the center of it all. The reaper laid his hand flat against the central character before sending a pulse of energy into it, causing the door to become pitch black and the knob into a small skull.
"Naruto, welcome to the little shop of horrors," and with that, the reaper pushed the door open and before Naruto knew it, he had been sucked into a swirling mass of darkness.
Some time later
Naruto awoke groggily, his vision swimming before him. Blearily, the boy remembered the reaper doing something to his door, then it turned into a black hole and sucked him up, depositing him Kami knows where.
"Hello! Come on kid wake up!" shouted a voice the boy didn't recognize. He registered that it was female and that she was close, very close to him. Slowly, as the boy recovered, Naruto began to see a face, it seemed a little heart shaped with one large blue blob on it along with a red blob on top of it that covered one of the eyes. As his vision finally came back into focus the blonde realized something, something that made his heart skip a beat for a minute.
Not mere inches from his own face was a girl about his age with blood red hair that swept over her right eye leaving only one beautiful blue eye for the world to see. Her face was a bit pointed when it got to the chin but rounded out everywhere else, somewhat like an upside down tear drop along with a cute little nose and creamy pale skin. It was then that he realized, the girl was crouching over him on all fours, her knees on each side of his thighs and her arms holding her up mere inches from his face on both sides of his head.
The blonde yelped in surprise and accidently smashed his forehead into hers, sending the girl back and Naruto to slam the back of his head into the ground. Both groaned in pain as they started to stand. Naruto absently noted that the girl was wearing a strange patchwork dress of dark purple, smoky gray and black with baggy black stockings with smart black slip on shoes.
"Sorry about that," chuckled the girl as she rubbed her head, a smile on her face despite the pain. "Anyway, my name is Kikioko Atezuiryo and welcome to the Little Shop of Horrors," she said with a smile.
Naruto blinked at the girl before he finally started to register exactly where he was. The shop was named accurately in everything except the 'little' part. The entire area was huge! So huge that the blonde could not see the top of the building, merely an endless black void, while on the ground, Naruto was surrounded by shelves upon shelves of strange objects. They ranged from demonic figurines to small jars filled with different colored liquids or body parts. He even saw one filled with eyes that stared right back at him. There were creepy looking dolls as well, some that looked like devils, others with beady black eyes and serrated teeth, and the blonde even though he saw one filled with pins.
Now, when surrounded by such strange and scary looking things and being an eight year old with no idea where he was coupled with constantly being attacked all his life, Naruto did a very logical thing in his mind. He screamed bloody murder and began running for his life.
Kikioko just stared after the boy, surprised and confused with his actions as well as a little sad that he had left her. She got even more depressed as those words struck a chord in her heart. "Why did they leave?" she whispered to her self, memories of her past surfacing within her mind. Shaking her head, the girl thought, 'doesn't matter, that's the past and that's where it stays' with that, the redhead ran after the blonde headed boy.
In another part of the store
Fredrick was in a panic. As soon as the reaper had touched down, he realized Naruto wasn't with him, and being alone in the underworld, especially with no knowledge of this particular store, the likelihood of dying was extremely high. Luckily, being a reaper gave him the ability to sense where certain souls were and in what condition they were in. Of course, this meant the reaper could feel Naruto's fear and to be scared in the little shop of horrors… yeah he needed to find the boy and quickly!
"Lose something boya?" asked a gravelly voice filled with amusement. Turning, Fredrick came face to face with a rather round and large demon. The demon in question had green skin, three clawed fingers on each hand and two clawed toes that were in a pair of tan flip-flops. He was rather portly with a round face that was broken by a wide smile and slit yellow round eyes along with a snout not unlike that of an alligators. The only thing that broke his round face was his large pointy green ears and the little red fez that sat neatly on his head. The demon wore a blue robe and brown baggy robe like pants coupled with a beige shirt and a red sash around his waist.
"Hello Goza," Fredrick greeted the round demon warmly, forgetting for a second before he remembered about Naruto, "Ah! Sorry Goza, but a human is here and well, its his first time here and I lost him in transit! I really need to be looking for him!" Fredrick stated before starting to rush towards Naruto's direction, or he tried were it not for Goza pulling him back by his hood.
"Whoa there boney, first. Why is there a human here? Second, how did you lose him in transit? You did remember to have a physical hold on this person before you used Death's Door, right?" asked the demon, smiling the whole time.
Fredrick blinked, and then smacked his head. Goza just chuckled heartily at the reaper. "So you forgot that part eh? No matter, whats done is done," he chortled. With that the demon began walking down the aisles, the reaper following. "Now care to explain why a human is here? Not that I mind really, but its been quite some time since I've seen a human in my shop, barring my most recent employee of course," mused the green skinned creature as he inspected some weapons. "I'm assuming you brought him here for a weapon? And would I also be right in assuming he's the Kyuubi jinchuuriki?" the demon asked, a sly smile on his face and a knowing twinkle in his eye.
Huxley stared in surprise before quickly chuckling; it didn't surprise him that Goza knew of the whole situation revolving around Naruto. The portly creature made it his business to know what went on in the world, especially with information like this. The reaper also knew that Goza would do anything to prevent another demon/human war, because while he would make a lot of money out of it, the cost of lives would just be too great. Besides, Goza wasn't a war merchant, but a jack-of-all-trades salesman, selling everything, specializing in nothing. Then the seriousness of losing Naruto in this place hit him again. "Goza please, I must find Naruto before he meets a rather unfortunate end!" Fredrick exclaimed.
Goza just shrugged, "Then we'll find him on one condition," stated the demon. Fredrick blinked at him and Goza chuckled, "You take me and my employees to Konoha with you, I need a new place to set up shop and if I'm right, this Naruto will attract a lot of business," stated the demon.
Fredrick just nodded slowly, "I can take you to Konoha but why would you think Naruto would attract more business? And don't you think its unwise to set up a paranormal shop in the human world?" asked the reaper.
Goza just laughed at the reaper, "Change is coming my friend, and the catalyst is that boy," with that, the demon walked off towards the sounds of screaming that was growing closer every with every step.
With Naruto
Naruto was running for his life, though if he had been thinking clearly, he would realize that running around like a chicken with its head cut off in a place like this was VERY unwise. However, being poorly educated and prone to act on instinct and emotion, it was somewhat understandable. But that's beside the point, Naruto was running and screaming through the aisles, going who knows where when something wrapped around his legs and caused him to trip.
Panicked the boy turned around and saw a truly terrifying site. There, in a olant pot the size of a hot tub was a ten foot tall plant with a giant mouth filled with sharp teeth, a purple tongue and drooling green saliva that seemed to hiss and sizzle as it hit the ground. The plant stood on a long thick green stalk and had roots surrounding its reach that seemed to have a reach of at least 4 yards and acted like tentacles, and one of those tentacles was wrapped around Naruto's feet!
Naruto screamed as the plant monster dragged the blonde towards its gaping maw. Naruto watched as the plant dangled him in front of it, positive that the monstrous botanical organism was going to devour him. Closing his bright blue eyes, Naruto waited for his inevitable doom. Surprised, the blonde felt his face getting licked repeatedly, but not in the way of tasting something, but rather in the way a dog licks it's masters face. Surprised, the blonde snapped his eyes open and stared at the plant that was seemingly panting in joy and Naruto noticed that he was set down on the edge of the pot the plant was housed in. For a second the blonde contemplated running when something rolled against his foot. Surprised, the blond looked to see a small red ball and the plant waiting in excited expectation.
Confused, the blonde picked up the ball and looked from it to the plant waiting happily, on the roots behind it wagging back and forth furiously. Giving a shrug the boy threw the ball high in the air towards the plant and watched in fascination as the green monster gave a bark before snapping at the ball and catching it. Happily the plant brought the ball back and laid it at Naruto's feet, obviously wanting him to throw it again. The blonde blinked before throwing it again, watching in some amusement as the plant went to catch it again then brought it back once more for the boy to throw. Naruto chuckled a bit before throwing the ball again, his previous fear now completely gone as he played fetch with this strange plant.
"I see you found Seamore," said a familiar voice behind the blonde. Turning, Naruto was surprised to find not only the girl from earlier, but also a portly green skinned demon and his guardian Fredrick. All of them were smiling at the sight while Fredrick literally flew at Naruto and caught him up on a bone shattering hug.
"Thank the Lord you're alright! I'm so sorry Naruto, I never meant to leave you alone I-," the skeleton just rambled on about how sorry he was while Naruto was desperately trying to escape the death grip he was in. Thankfully the blonde was saved by the green demon swatting the back of the skeleton's head.
"You're going to kill him with that hug of yours boya," stated Goza as Naruto dropped to the floor gasping for breath. Immediately, Kikioko was by his side helping him up. Nervously the blonde thanked her but stepped back until he was next to Fredrick again, the whole time smiling at the girl with a big goofy grin. Goza cocked an eye at that. 'Odd, boy's acting like we're some kind of threat, I wonder…' However before the demon could contemplate further he was torn from his thoughts by the skeleton speaking up again.
"Goza, I came here for supplies and for you to deliver a letter," stated the reaper as he pulled out the envelope. Curious the demon took the envelope and read who it was addressed to with a bit of shock and disgust crossing his features.
Turning to the reaper Goza had a disbelieving tone as he asked, "Are you absolutely sure you want to get his help in training the boy?" The Huxley just nodded in response. "Fine, but I don't see how that slug jockey is going to be of any use," grumbled Goza in annoyance.
Naruto frowned at that, "Who are you talking about?" asked the boy. Fredrick just ruffled his hair and glided after a grumbling Goza. Confused, Naruto turned to the only other person nearby. "Do you know who they're talking about?" he questioned, turning to a smiling Kikioko.
Kikioko just giggled in response before saying, "You'll have to find that out yourself whiskers! Now come on, you really don't want to be left behind do you?" with that she started skipping after the other two. Naruto stared for a minute before deciding to follow. "By the way, my name is Kikioko Atezuiryo, but people usually call me Kiki, how about you whiskers?"
Naruto hesitated for a second, not quite sure how he should respond. Being who he was, people generally avoided him as soon as they learned who he was if they hadn't beforehand and Naruto had only been asked for his name once before, and that was from the people who owned the ramen stand he frequented. "Its Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki the next hokage! Dattebayo!" he had started out quiet but had ended with a loud and confident voice, a giant skull splitting grin on his face.
Kiki blinked before letting her head fall to the left as she stared at Naruto quizzically, "Whats a hokage?" she asked. At this Naruto fell flat on his face anime style before getting up with his eyes replaced with burning flames of determination.
"The hokage is the greatest ninja in the entire village! He's the strongest of the strong and everybody respects him! And I will use my blood, sweat and tears to get that hat!" he declared, fist in front of him and his face mere inches from Kiki's own somewhat freaked and blushing one. Suddenly Naruto turned and faced the sky, fist in the air and the flames in his eyes even bigger and more intense, "Do you hear me old man? I will take that hat from your head, even if I have to defeat a god to do it! And to start as soon as I get home, it's a hundred laps around the training ground!" declared the boy, his eyes literally bursting into miniature suns at this point.
Back in Konoha
Two green spandex clad shinobi, both supporting perfect black haired bowl cuts and extremely bushy matching eyebrows sneezed and felt immensely proud for someone.
"Gai-sensei, d you feel what I do?" asked the smaller bowl cut green clad shinobi, this one having wrapped hands and forearms with no flak jacket.
"Yes Lee and I believe that someone out there has joined our youthful quest!" Declared the bigger bowl cut male, this one wearing a jounin flak jacket and no hand wraps.
Lee pumped his fist into the air with a cry of joy "This is most wonderful Gai-sensei! I say we train till our fires of youth burn as brightly as our new comrade's!" he declared with determined look.
"That a boy Lee! Yosh let us test our flames of YOOOUTH!" declared the man, his thumb up and arm straight out with a blinding smile on his face. With that, both males dashed off, running at speeds that would make the Yellow Flash whistle in amazement.
In a secret lair
A man cloaked in shadows with only a pair of purple eyes with a ripple pattern in them visible, sneezed violently before a small feeling of dread ran up his sine. "I feel like someone… wants to kill me," he said in a monotone voice. Shaking his head, the shadow clad man ignored it, "Doesn't matter, no one can kill a god," he stated, with that the man walked off.
Back at the shop
Kiki watched with some fascination at Naruto's declaration before she slowly started to smile, which was soon followed by a soft giggle that slowly got louder and louder until the girl was laughing uproariously. Confused, Naruto just stared at the girl an eyebrow cocked as the girl held her sides, tears of mirth forming in her eyes, "Whats so funny?" he asked innocently.
Kiki finally started to calm down, but the smile would not leave her face as she explained, "You, you're funny," she stated. Naruto blinked a bit before realization dawned on him.
"Oi! Don't laugh at my dream! I'll prove you and everyone else wrong, just wait and see!" Naruto said angrily, a small bit of hurt and hatred shining in his eyes. Kiki only saw it for an instant until the blonde squinted his eyes so the blue orbs weren't seeable.
Blinking at the blonde Kiki gave a warm smile, "Sorry if I offended you, but the way you proclaimed it was funny, plus with that jumpsuit your in, it's just funny!" here she giggled a bit at the memory, "But trust me when I say I would never laugh at you for your dream, I have one too you know," she said with seriousness. Naruto blinked at that.
"What is it?" he asked with curiosity, all anger or resentment now gone and replaced with a simple wish to know. Kiki just smiled; "Well…" here she leaned in towards the blonde, a twinkle in her eye. Seeing this, Naruto leaned in closer too, although when he did, he noticed that his heart began to beat a little faster and his face became a little hot. Unbeknownst to him, Kikioko's was doing the same.
Opening her mouth and taking a deep breath Kiki said, "You'll just have to wait and see!" and with that, she dashed off laughing merrily.
Naruto blinked in confusion before racing after the girl, a small smile on his lips as he chased her and shouted in mock indignity "What kind of answer is that? Get back here!" Kiki just laughed in response and kept running. The blonde also laughed as he chased her, things were starting to look up for Naruto.
An hour later
Naruto couldn't really believe his day. First, he wakes up to find out that a reaper really is guarding him, then he gets sucked into some shop that in all actuality, was another dimension! Fredrick had said something about it just being a pocket dimension and not an actual whole other dimension, but that had been lost on Naruto. I mean seriously, it was another dimension! However, it was the person currently walking with him towards the academy and their new role in his life was what surprised him the most.
"Wow this place is amazing!" Kikioko exclaimed as she looked at the buildings and people around her. Goza had apparently decided that if they were going to open up shop in Konoha, he should also send Kiki to the Academy. When the girl had asked why she should become a shinobi Goza had said.
"We're not regular humans Kiki and we need to make sure that this hokage person knows we mean no harm to his village. So what better way then to have my 'daughter' become a kunochi and our shop to help supply his forces?"
So Fredrick had gone off to tell Hiruzen about this turn of events while Kiki and Naruto headed to the academy. The blonde was grateful that she was busy with looking at everything because if she wasn't, Kiki would most likely notice all the hate filled glares Naruto was getting. It was something he didn't want to have to explain to her, not when she was very possibly his only friend.
"We're here!" announced Naruto happily as he passed through the gates into the academy yard. Kiki could only gaze in awe of the building as she switched her view from the Academy building and to the countless other kids who were arriving or being dropped off by their parents.
Kiki's gaze lingered on the kids being dropped off for a moment, and Naruto saw an emotion he himself had felt for years. Longing, a sense of want for something everyone else had. Yet Naruto also saw something else in there, like she was remembering something, something traumatic. Before Naruto could ponder it though, the look had vanished from her blue eyes as quickly as it had come, though Kiki seemed completely oblivious to everything almost as if thinking about whatever it was had made her mind shut down completely.
"Kiki? You okay?" asked Naruto shaking her shoulder slightly. Kikioko blinked before looking around her. When she landed her one eye on Naruto's blue eyes comprehension started to dawn once again.
"Hehe, sorry bout that. Guess I spaced a bit there huh?" she apologized casually. Naruto just gave her his usual smile and grabbed her hand. "No problem, now come on! We're late for class!" he said boisterously, completely oblivious to his companion's furious blush and small smile.
In the classroom
Iruka Umino, a man garbed in the standard chuunin outfit with tan skin, dark eyes and a scar going across his nose, was doing role call for his class. "Yamanaka Ino," he called out. A female voice gave a here while Iruka checked the name off. "Naruto Uzumaki," he called. There was silence.
Iruka looked up to see if the blonde was asleep but sighed when he saw the boy was nowhere to be seen. "Ok, has anyone seen Na-," he was interrupted by the sound of his door being opened followed by frantic footsteps and a loud cry of "We're here!"
Rolling his eyes, Iruka turned to reprimand Naruto about being late when he stopped dead in his tracks at two facts about the boy. One was that Naruto wasn't wearing his orange jumpsuit, granted he was still wearing orange but it wasn't that neon orange jumpsuit that screamed 'kill me'. Instead he was wearing a burnt orange jacket with the usual red swirl taking up the center of the back. Under the jacket was a simple white shirt with a black skull on the front. He was wearing simple brown cargo pants and black shinobi sandals. Completing the look was the usual goggles on his forehead and some purple prayer beads around his neck like a necklace.
However all this paled in comparison to one simple and glaringly obvious fact. Naruto was holding the hand of a girl! A girl! At first, Iruka thought it was an illusion but after trying to disperse it discreetly, he knew it was a living breathing female!
Shaking himself, Iruka decided to find out what his favorite student had been up to, "Ok Naruto, would you mind explaining why you're late and why you've brought this girl to class?" asked the chuunin.
Naruto grinned at that, "I was showing Kiki here around town," he exlained while gesturing with his free hand to the lightly blushing red head. Kikioko smiled nervously in return and gave the instructor a tiny wave in greeting. "She's here to become a kunochi, she and her father just moved in," Naruto informed him.
Iruka blinked at that. At least now he knew who his new student was. About an hour before class, he had gotten a message that said he'd be getting some new blood but no other details than that. "Well then how about you introduce yourself miss? And Naruto go take a seat, don't worry you're girlfriend will be sitting next to you," Iruka teased.
Naruto and Kiki both sported red fasces at that as they shouted in perfect synchronization, "WE'RE NOT LIKE THAT!" The instructor just chuckled good naturedly as Naruto took his usual seat at the middle desk in the middle row. And of course, the seats next to his were empty, something that Kiki found odd. However she decided to just get it over with and introduce herself.
"Hello everyone," she greeted in a kind voice, "My name is Kikioko Atezuiryo, and I just moved here with my father. I look forward to working with you guys," she finished and then went to sit next to our blonde hero. Naruto gave her a foxy grin and she did the same in return as she took her seat and waited for class to begin.
Her actions were met with various reactions from the students, but the majority was just is disbelief that she'd sit next to Naruto of all people. Most of the girls wondering why she'd sit next to someone like the class clown instead of Sasuke Uchiha, a black haired boy in a blue shirt and white shirts with onyx black brooding eyes and spiky black hair. Some of the thoughts that went through the kids heads followed as such.
'Why in Kami's name would she want to sit next to that baka?' though a pink haired girl.
'Poor girl probably doesn't know what she's doing, best to set her on the right bath' thought a purple clad girl with a pitying look towards the blue eyed red head.
'Huh, she looks nice' thought a rather rotund boy who was stuffing his face.
'Weird, some girl appears out of the blue with Naruto and the guy seems different, great another layer to the enigma that is Uzumaki… troublesome' thought a boy that looked asleep sitting next to the round boy.
'Whats a babe like that doing with Naruto? Meh, probably just friends, no offense man but you suck with the ladies' thought a feral looking boy with a dog on his head.
'W-What i-is her relation w-with Naruto-kun? C-Could she be his… girlfriend? No! T-They're probably j-just friends' thought a pale eyed girl in the back.
'I wonder how this will affect everything?' thought a kid whose face was hidden by sunglasses and a high collar trench coat.
'Great, another useless fangirl in the making, and if she's with the dobe, she'll probably be even more useless' thought Sasuke.
"Alright class, this afternoon we're going to have a sparring session and it will be tournament rules. First though, we'll be learning about bloodlines and their abilities," Iruka announced.
As soon as the lecture started Naruto tried to pay attention, he really did, but the lecture was just so long for the hyperactive boy. He was better at learning when it was explained simply, hands on teaching or when his life was threatened.
Kiki was half listening to the lecture while her real interest lied in observing the people around her, though as not to be caught not paying attention by Iruka, she had to settle for seeing who she could with what was in front of her and her peripheral vision.
Looking to her left, she noted that Naruto's head was laying his head on his arms, an extremely bored look on his face and on the verge of passing into blissful sleep. Looking to the bottom left she could see some black haired kid with a blue shirt and a fan etched into the back sitting on the far end of the desk, right next to the window. He seemed to be completely apathetic to where he was and towards everyone around him. The girl could easily tell he was cold, distant and more than likely anti social. There were just two things she couldn't understand though, one, why was he so cold? Two, why in gods name was nearly every girl in the class infatuated with him?
She then noted two girls that seemed to have been hit the hardest with what she would call the 'fangirl virus'. Both had long hair that reached just past mid back and both were the same height but that's where similarities ended. One girl was wearing purple while the other wore red and one had blonde hair in a ponytail while the other had pink hair that she let cascade down her back. 'Pink hair? Well, I have seen odder' thought Kiki with a shrug. She watched in fascination as the tow went from gazing at Sasuke with dreamy looks to bickering with each other about who deserved/loved him more. The only thing useful she gained from this entertainment was that the pink haired girls name was Sakura, 'cherry blossom? Eh makes sense' and the platinum blonde was Ino, 'Now I know why she calls her pig' their bickering match was interrupted when Iruka threatened them with some punishment or other. Kikioko was oblivious to this because her attention had drifted over to observe someone else.
The next person she observed was a bushy brown haired boy who hid his face behind perfectly round shades, a high collared sea-green jacket that hid his face further along with some black shorts and blue shinobi sandals. Apparently he felt her eyes on him and turned ever so slightly to look at her. Kiki smiled lightly at him, but because of her hair most of her right face it seemed more like a smirk. The boy just gave a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to pay attention to Iruka. Kiki just shrugged lightly and went to observe the last person that interested her that she could see. Oddly enough, he was observing her as well.
The boy she was studying now had red triangles reminiscent of fangs on his cheeks. He had slit like black eyes and pronounced canines, like a dogs as well as somewhat sharpened fingernails, which were reminiscent of claws. He was wearing a fur lined hooded grey coat with the hood up along with dark grayish pants that stopped at his calves right above the standard shinobi sandals. Completing this feral looking boy's looks was a small white puppy on top of his head. He was grinning at her and Kiki was more than happy to return the grin to the boy.
"PAY ATTENTION!" Iruka shouted, causing Kiki to jump in her seat and was about to apologize when she realized that Iruka wasn't glaring at her but at Naruto, who was fast asleep. Growling in anger, the chuunin grabbed an eraser and flung it at the blonde. Acting out of instinct more than anything Naruto's eyes snapped open and he had enough time to see the projectile wasn't dangerous to relax and just take the hit, Naruto style.
As soon as the erased made contact with his face, Naruto gave out a shout of indignation before falling backwards out of his seat, eraser still on his face. Leaping onto the desk with eraser in hand the whiskered boy shouted, "What the hell Iruka-sensei? Whats the big idea throwing an eraser at a little kid?" he demanded comically.
"Because you were clearly asleep and not paying attention," Iruka deadpanned.
"I was too paying attention!" Naruto denied.
"Then tell me, what have I been talking about this entire time?" Iruka asked.
"Bloodlines," Naruto stated immediately, thanking Kami that he had paid attention long enough to know about what the lecture was about.
"Correct," Iruka stated. Naruto got a giant grin on his face at this, however it vanished at Iruka's next question. "Now can you tell me what the Shodaime's bloodline was?" he asked.
Naruto just looked at him blankly before hanging his head in defeat. This was met with laughter from nearly every student as they delighted in Naruto's failure to answer a simple question. The only ones not laughing were a pale-eyed girl in the back, the shades wearing boy, the round boy plus his sleeping friend and Kikioko.
The lesson continued on and then the class was dismissed for lunch. Naruto had left so fast that Kikioko didn't even see him, just an orange blur. She blinked before shrugging and decided to see if she could follow him, but she wondered why he had left so quickly. 'Maybe he went to get some lunch from somewhere?' thought the girl. She just shrugged and went looking for her new friend.
Five minutes later she found Naruto sitting alone on a single swing in front of the academy. She hesitated in approaching though when she saw the look on Naruto's face. She had seen that look once before, one she knew all too well. It spoke of want, desire to have something so desperately but just couldn't have.
Looking in the same direction Naruto did she saw that he was watching the other children play. Kiki frowned at this, what was wrong with Naruto? The girl may not know much about the Kyuubi vessel but she'd be damned to hell if she didn't try and find out what was wrong with him.
Naruto sighed as he watched the other kids fool around and have fun. For years he had wanted friends but, thanks to the Kyuubi their parents had told their children to avoid him, to never associate with him because of something that wasn't his fault. He just wanted to scream how unfair it was but… he had learned a long time ago that no matter how much he screamed, no one would help him, the same could be said for tears. He still cried, no mistake, he just didn't do it in front of anyone especially not in front of people he considered important to him.
However he was broken out of his thoughts when felt someone sit next to him on the swing. Surprised, the blonde turned his head and came face to face with a smiling Kikioko.
"Oh, hey Kiki, what are you doing here?" he asked with a grin.
"Obviously to eat lunch with you," she replied with a smile while opening her bento box.
The blonde was surprised by that. She wanted to east lunch with him? Him? This had happened to Naruto once and it hadn't ended well for him so he decided to test the girl. "What about the other students, surely you'd want to go meet them, you know make new friends and introduce yourself," he stated nonchalantly.
Kiki just shrugged in response, "I met you first, besides, the other girls are busy watching that kid with the whole too cool for anyone aura," she stated as she pointed with her cop sticks to the field where a large group of girls were gathered, all watching as the boy mentioned was hitting some targets with kunai and shuriken. They were some pretty good shots; hitting the bulls-eye almost every throw and each bullseye was met with swoons and cheers for their "Sasuke-kun,"
"Besides, you looked like you could use some company and I figure by keeping you company, I pay you back for showing me where the academy is," she chirped happily.
Naruto blinked at that before smiling a small smile, a genuine smile. "Thanks," he said, mostly to himself.
Kiki turned to him with a grin her one visible eye closed as she showed off her pearly white teeth. "No problem, besides, you're a nice guy to be around, you've got an approachable aura not like mister tomb and gloom over there," she stated with wave towards Sasuke.
Naruto laughed at that, however his laughter died in his throat when he saw Ino and Sakura along with a congregation of other girls approaching them. He sighed but forced a smile on his face when they stopped in front of the two. "He guys, whats up?" he asked in a friendly manner.
"Shut up dobe," stated Sakura with an arrogant voice and upturned nose to the boy. "We're not here to talk to you,"
"Hey Kikioko," Ino called, completely apathetic to Naruto, "you wanna come eat lunch with us? We usually go eat and watch Sasuke-kun practice," she asked.
"Nah, I'd rather hang here with Naruto, thanks though," she replied, much to everyone's shock.
"You'd rather eat with this deadlast then watch Sasuke-kun? He's the top of the class!" Sakura exclaimed.
Kiki frowned at her, "Be that as it may, I'm not interested in him like you guys are and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop insulting my friend," again shock rolled through the group, but none more so than Naruto.
"Friend?" Sakura asked incredulously, "You're friend with him?"
"And how is it any of your business?" Kiki asked sharply, her patience was starting to wear thin.
"Because he's an idiot! All he ever does is play stupid pranks on people, act like a total idiot and he's a nobody!" Sakura screamed as the girls behind her gave nods of approval and agreement. What happened next was something Naruto would remember for years to come, because it was to become one of his most treasured memories.
SMACK!
The sound of the slap seemed to absorb all other sound in the world as everyone stared in shock at the red head, now standing over Sakura, whom was on the ground, shock in her eyes as she placed a hand to her stinging red cheek.
"You listen to me and you listen well," Kiki said in a cold voice, her one visible blue eye boring into the shocked emerald of Sakura's. "I will not now, nor will I ever let you or anyone else talk to me or my friends like that!" she shouted. Now everyone had come to see what the commotion was about, even Sasuke had come to see. Seeing as everyone was there Kiki set her face into a serious mask of iron will. "My name is Kikioko Atezuiryo, and Naruto Uzumaki is my friend, if any of you have a problem, we'll settle it in the ring," with that, she grabbed a stupefied blonde boy's hand and stormed back into the academy building.
When the two finally got back to the classroom, Naruto finally snapped out of his stupor and grabbed Kiki, spinning her around so her surprised eye was looking into Naruto's own blue orbs. "What the hell were you thinking!" he nearly shouted at her, his voice a mixture of fear and anger.
Kiki was surprised and confused at this, "What do you mean?" she asked.
"I mean everything you did back there! It's bad enough that you started to defend me but openly attacking Sakura and declaring to everyone you're my friend? Do you even know what you've done?" he asked franticly.
Kiki became angry at this. 'I defend him and THIS is how he acts?' she thought. "Well sorry for trying to help! What am I not good enough to be your friend or something?" she demanded.
"NO!" Naruto yelled in frustration. He took a deep breath and said in a quiet voice, "If anything you're too good to be friends with someone like me," he put a hand to his stomach and grimaced at that. Looking up Naruto met the confused and concerned crystal blue that was Kiki's eye and said in a level tone, "Kiki, I'm glad that you call me a friend but its… it would be better if you just followed everyone else and forgot about me," he sighed.
"Why would you say something like that?" Kiki asked.
Naruto turned his head away from the red head, "Its because I'm an outcast, a hated reminder of something I had no part in," he explained in a hushed tone, "If you start associating with me, they'll start to hate you too and I.., I couldn't live with myself knowing that you'd suffer because of me," he finished, his head bowed and refusing to look up at her.
There was silence for some time as Kiki contemplated this information. Frowning the girl spoke, "Naruto, look at me," she said in a firm voice. Naruto raised his head and was surprised to find her pinky extended towards him. "You're my friend, no matter what anyone says and I promise to you that nothing will change that," she stated much to the boy's surprise. 'Why am I doing this?' she thought as the Uzumaki just stared at her outstretched pinky, like it would vanish at any minute. 'I barely know him yet' she gave him stared at the boy in front of her and couldn't help but let a smile form on her face, 'Because he needs a friend and I could do a hell of a lot worse' she finished.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Naruto raised a hesitant hand and hooked up his pinky with hers, sealing the promise. Slowly he let a smile grace his face. "Thanks Kiki-chan, I promise that you'll always be my friend, no matter what, dattebayo!" he said with his trademark grin. Kiki just giggled.
"Friends till the end, Naruto-kun," Kiki asked cutely, a blush adorning her face when she noticed he still had his pinky wrapped around hers.
"Friends till the end Kiki-chan," Naruto affirmed, a grin on his face.
A/N: Awww, can't you just feel the love? Anyway, be sure to read and review! Ja ne!