AN: welcome to the next chapter of Slave to a Monster I hope you enjoy it better than the last one and I'm sorry it took so very long to get out! lol
I would like to note that I don't really know the Japanese language, I simply used an online translator to figure out the names of my characters and the other random words I disperse in this story are ones I picked up from other stories. If I have misused a Japanese word and it offends you then I am sorry and I can assure you that this was not my intent. You can always email me at halo2girl69 'at symbol' yahoo . com (no spaces, duh) with the correct version of the word or simply message me here.
Thank you for your patience!!
Saika had her eyes closed again, unable to look at the enraptured faces turned her way, "The story gets pretty boring after that..."
"Tell us anyway, Saika-chan," Naruto touched her cloak and jumped when he felt the material soften underneath his fingertips. The familiarity with which he had reacted to her almost frightened him.
"All that happened after the…incident at the village was more tests. They (Orochimaru's 'doctors') were trying to recreate the power levels I had had in my moment of darkness but I just could not do it, not drugged and certainly not without proper provocation... We did not change bases too much after that either; Orochimaru feared another incident like the village and an uproar that would definitely have followed. He told me that such an incident would 'deplete his test subject supply'."
Saika looked up at Naruto and a smile broke out on her face in such a quick change of emotion that the others almost couldn't keep up. "Then I was saved!" her smile turned dreamy and she stared off into space, apparently forgetting that she was supposed to tell them what happened after she was 'saved'. Naruto felt his eyes roaming over her again, following the gentle curve of her chin, up to her plump and pink lips, to her narrow nose, skirting over prominent cheekbones, and finally stopping on warm yellow eyes that were hazy with happiness. She seemed so dreamy, so happy, Naruto almost felt bad for bringing her back from the memory.
"Saika-chan...?" Naruto almost touched her shoulder but remembered how awkward it had been the first time and decided to wave in her face instead. "Who saved you?" he asked, the others listening avidly.
"I already told you." She giggled and blushed like a horny teenager; her emotions now back with a kind of vengeance that honestly wasn't fair to the girl. "You did." Her voice had come out timid, a shy giggle that made everyone in the clearing look at Naruto with confusion, and then at the seemingly insane girl.
Sakura looked at Naruto in shock, "You?"
"I don't remember doing that..." Naruto held up his hands, a defensive gesture that Saika found interesting.
"Well," Saika tapped her chin, the scars on her hands almost completely returned to their silvery norm, "It was not you exactly, more like what is inside of you." She poked him in the belly, a cute blush dusting her cheeks, "I sense it here and" she poked his forehead, "here." Her fingers felt cool against Naruto's skin and this made him shiver with something he didn't fully understand.
"The Kyuubi?" Naruto seemed incredulous, but he believed her.
"Hai, Naruto-kun."
Now it was time for the entire group to be shocked. People weren't supposed to be able to sense the demon unless Naruto actually used his chakra, which Naruto knew he hadn't around this new being. Not to mention how it was supposed to be impossible for Kyuubi to control Naruto at all.
"The Kyuubi is a demon, the most selfish and powerful on the entire planet; why would he save you?" asked Sai in his blunt manner, uncaring if he happened to hurt her feelings.
"Sa..." she mumbled some other words in an unintelligible language before saying something rather confusing. "I feel like I should resent that, maybe because Kyuubi-danna is my master...?" she shook her head, her beautiful green hair rippling over her shoulders and sending out a heady scent that made everyone in the clearing flare their nostrils and their hearts to race, spreading heat throughout their bodies. Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai took a step closer to her small form and Naruto stepped in front of them, glaring as the animalistic instincts of 'protect' and 'possession' took over his testosterone flooded body.
Sakura stepped around the glaring and festering group and snatched Saika's wrist carefully. "What just happened to us?" she was panting in Saika's face, her eyes wide with her lust as she fought unexplored feelings.
"Did my pheromones affect you as well?" Saika tilted her head cutely, confusion shining lovely in her yellow eyes. Saika pulled her arm to her body enough to slip her hand into Sakura's, her yellow orbs locked onto Sakura's green. Her cloak dissolved around her neck—exposing her collarbone to hungry eyes—and pulled her hair into its depths. Her hood reformed as she whispered to Sakura, "They are only supposed to affect those who find females attractive...
"I am very sorry," Saika said loudly enough for the others to hear, "Another of Orochimaru's experiments did this to me." Saika bowed her head adorably, "It will wear off soon, and I will not allow it to happen again."
When the group's crazy hormones finally settled Saika continued as if she had never been interrupted by the permanent change to her body.
"Kyuubi-danna saved me because he saw potential in my kekkei genkai. I remember when I first saw him; he was much younger than you, Naruto-kun, about six or seven years old. I remember his eyes were brilliant red with the pupils of a cat, his whiskers were more prominent, and you had claws and fangs that made me feel oddly safe…when I was not too drugged to notice them, that is.
"Anytime the doctors were not examining me Kyuubi-danna would come and visit me, slowly bringing me back to sanity piece by piece; Kyuubi-danna was patient and took his time, making absolutely sure that I was being a good girl for the bad doctors so they would leave me alone more often. After an entire year of his gentle care he asked if I would like to leave that place for somewhere nicer." A flash of a white coat shocked Saika and she stumbled back, fear striking on her face before she pushed the memory away, not wanting to relive it ever again if she could help it.
"Are you okay?" Naruto touched her shoulder, finding the feel of the moving metal only a little unsettling this time.
Saika shook her head, smiling a little and continuing as if nothing had happened yet again. "I was barely insane when he asked me this, but at the same time I was only barely able to control myself—there were so many drugs in my systems I could hardly walk.
"I think I always saw my mentality as two sides, one of darkness and the other of light, and I was usually on the precipice of either. Kyuubi-danna knew this, and he also knew that he had to be very careful with my sanity or risk me losing it forever.
"I told him that I would love to leave, I no longer felt love for Orochimaru and I no longer had a reason to stay because Kyuui was long dead. I was ready to leave the many levels of hell I had always called home and Kyuubi-danna was finally ready to show me the way." Saika looked shortly at Naruto, noticing absently that it was getting late. "I remember his voice being strange; I assume it was because it was your voice when you were younger, obviously, and Kyuubi-danna's life-force influencing your vocals. It was stranger still because your voice always sounded sleepy, and I never really knew why. I assumed much later on that he took control of you when you were asleep." This caused Kakashi to speak up, unable to stop himself from contradicting this obviously insane girl's words.
"That would have been impossible. The seal was much stronger back then, when Naruto was so young. Even now the Kyuubi can't even talk to Naruto, let alone take over his body in his sleep..."
Naruto decided not to contradict that very incorrect statement. "It happens to Gaara, I know the seals that bind our demons are different but still..." Naruto was suddenly in awe as Saika's words finally dawned on him, "I thought those were just dreams. The Kyuubi always told me they were nightmares of someone else's life; ones he had witnessed long ago and slipped through the bars of his cage to torment me at night. I never thought they…" he looked at Saika with a newfound recognition and slight regret. "I never thought you were real."
She smiled happily, an innocent child once more, pheromones forgotten. "When we were escaping Kyuubi-danna told me to hold his hand and not to let go. I remember asking him why I needed to do this and he told me to close my eyes: 'Do not open them, no matter what you hear, okay?'
[AN: I am aware this part may be confusing but I just couldn't help but write it this way: simply putting you are reliving the night Saika and Kyuubi escaped from Orochimaru's lair. And please do not complain about the note in the middle of the story, I am very aware that it is unprofessional; you don't have to tell me. Enjoy!!]
Saika looked at Kyuubi, her eyes watering with fear and hope. Maybe she should just trust him; maybe she should run for Orochimaru's known protection, maybe she...
"Trust me, little one, all will be well."
Without meaning to Saika had taken his hand, closing her eyes with earnest fear and almost sick excitement. Kyuubi took off, leading the way out of her little room and into a musty smelling hallway. Saika cracked open an eye, looking upon the maroon walls with concealed excitement. She could feel them, the people walking calmly through the halls, patrolling but so unsuspecting. She lifted her other hand, feeling a killing intent wash over her mind and flood to her fingertips, calling on her power as easily as breathing and causing the guard ninja difficulty with breathing. Kyuubi looked back, knew that she was peaking, and did not reprimand her for it. Saika opened her eyes completely, her body tingling with power as the first man stepped forward gasping with shock as the metals in his own body ripped him open, shredding his skin and splattering blood upon the walls. Saika felt an insane giggle tear up her throat, emptying her lungs in an explosion of ecstasy and force enough to seemingly shake the building. Kyuubi chuckled with her, kicking the corpse as they rushed past. Saika couldn't remember how many she killed that night, laughing the entire time, licking the blood off her face whenever the substance splattered upon her: once a piece of a man's own brain landed upon her upraised palm and Kyuubi told her that eating it would give her some of the man's intelligence from when he was alive. She had swallowed the slimy matter without hesitance. Kyuubi ripped ninja and civilians apart, suckling on his fingers whenever the blood caked on thickly: he even ripped out a beating heart from a man's chest, devouring it like some kind of animal.
And during all of this they held hands, never once being injured by the stupefied humans whom all died. Until they almost reached the exit that is: Kyuubi was running in front of Saika when the squad arrived, cutting into his little body with vicious killing intent by throwing their kunai and shriunken. Saika screamed, yanking Kyuubi back and behind her, turning their steal weapons into a solid shield against more blows. Kyuubi healed very quickly, his lips twisting into a tight grimace of annoyance more than pain. The shield exploded, flinging shards of metal at the men, literally ripping off chunks of their flesh to flop mushily upon the floor. The thirteen-year-old girl cried as she clung to the seven-year-old boy, clutching his body to her own in fear and remorse.
"You are so strong, little one," Kyuubi hugged her gently as he helped her to stand, carefully nudging her, trying to get Saika to start running with him again. "We must keep going," he looked into her eyes and nodded his head, waiting for her to do the same.
Saika didn't want to hurt anyone after that, she closed her eyes and clutched Kyuubi, fully trusting the child to get her out of there alive. When they made it outside of the facility the alarm started. It seemed they had killed the others so quickly that the rest of the ninjas inside hadn't noticed their escape until they found the carnage.
They continued their mad rush to safety without pause, Saika's labored breathing the only indication of strain. Saika tripped over an exposed root and fell, scrapping her knees up very badly. Kyuubi crouched down next to her, gently touching the roughened skin to remove the little rocks trapped there with his sharp claws. He asked the girl if she could keep going and they took off once more, running through the woods until their bare feet turned bloody and red. Saika found it very difficult to run, having never really gotten the opportunity to exercise in the facility that she had been imprisoned. Kyuubi was patient with her though, jogging or just walking whenever running became impossible for Saika and never once punishing her for her shortcomings.
A squad of ninja tried to stop them and Saika screamed as Kyuubi killed them deftly, his little hands completely coated in thick red blood by the time he was done rendering them limb from limb. When Kyuubi turned, his eyes wild with the lust of killing, his teeth bore in a vicious and blood curdling snarl, Saika retreated into her own mind, tapping into her defenses and submerging herself gratefully. Her body did not loose consciousness though; a being who had endured much in the many centuries of its life took control and escaped with Kyuubi, using 'chakra' to power the body long after it should have given out.
The little boy smiled with utter glee at the sight of this other being, at the oppressive aura it emitted from the little and prepubescent body that it was cased in. Kyuubi didn't know why Saika had come to this world in the form of a human, but he suspected it was because the brat that housed him was to be her mate.
"Ah, a fellow in this Realm, have you come to help this body of mine?"
Kyuubi bowed briefly, "Of course, there is a place I have set aside for you, in a crest of mountains not too much farther from here."
The being controlling Saika looked down upon the body it was cased in and blanched, "This body should already be developed into their teenage years, should it not?"
Kyuubi nodded, "It was the human whom had captured the body, he suppressed the hormones needed for growth to more easily control the human half of you; it's apparently easier to control a fearful child rather than a hormonal teenager."
Kyuubi led Saika to the mountains and she gasped at its beauty. A gentle creek of pure water bubbled over smooth stones and housed plenty of sleek fish, the bottom clearly visible through the undulating currents of thawed snow. There was a cave, nestled in the forest of trees against the mountainside that would remain warm through winter and was tucked away enough to protect against even the most slanted rains. Saika could sense plenty of wildlife around the area and could see thickets of wild fruit trees and onion patches, along with many others she would identify later.
Saika nodded her head, satisfied with the area, before shoving the shocked and tired little girl into the forefront of their mind, allowing her to take in the surrounding area for herself.
"Listen to me very carefully," Kyuubi motioned for the child to sit down in the cave where blankets and other little necessities awaited inspection. "You must stay in these mountains until I send for you..."
"Will you retrieve me yourself?" Saika asked fearfully, she had never been alone, never had to care for herself, and she wasn't sure if she could.
"No, it will be a long time before you see me again and even then it may in the form of the human, whom I am imprisoned within."
"Why?" cried Saika, fear evident on her pretty face as well as within her tone. He could see her panic rising and it would be bad if he let it get out of hand.
"Do not question me, there is no time for that, my host will awaken in a few short hours and I cannot let him know what has been happening while he sleeps or you may never hear from me again. Survive in any way that you can, hunt with the ways I taught you long ago, and wait for me to send the messenger bird with the kanji of your name carved upon its breast."
Saika had not recited the parts where the entity was in control, for she had no memories of that time, she also told the group of how she had to learn to fight against bears and mountain cats for the right to live in that perfect little cave. And, after a moment of debate, Saika decided not to tell Naruto about him eating a human heart; she didn't think his sanity could really handle knowing something like that.
Saika opened her cloak with a flicker of chakra and a beautiful hawk with a white breast marred by a perfectly carved kanji for mistake hopped out and landed upon Saika's waiting arm. "This is Talmon, I was so excited when I saw him flying up to me that I left without preparing at all." Saika's bright yellow eyes alarmed Naruto and he felt a thrill in his heart.
"Wait, preparing for what?" and yet, somehow, Naruto had a feeling he knew what she had been preparing for her entire life.
Tsunade's eyes burned with barely suppressed furry, "What?" her tone was deathly quiet and her fists clenched around a delicate cup of sake with almost enough force to shatter it. The well-endowed woman had already utterly pulverized four cups since that morning; she didn't have any more after this one so she was trying to control her temper.
"Ano, Naruto-kun said that a girl named Saika is going to move in with him before this week's end and that she requested to go with him whenever Naruto-kun leaves for a mission outside of the village." Shizune wished she could be just about anywhere else at this very moment when Tsunade's brown eyes burned all the brighter with her fury.
"She 'requested' or demanded?" the Fifth Hokage's tone scared Shizune more than if she had been forced to eat a whole wagon-load of live and very poisoness spiders. You see, Tsunade had reached beyond the destructive anger and had escalated to I'm-so-pissed-off-I'm-almost-calm-with-murder-just-one-comment-away.
"D-demands..." Shizune ducked, covering her face with her hands in the hopes that anything hurled at her—more specifically shards of a sake cup—would be deflected but she knew that her flimsy arms would only slow the projectiles slightly. When nothing immediately happened she straightened, her face red with embarrassment. Tsunade looked calm, in the real sense, staring out her window wistfully. "Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked hesitantly, hoping that her questioning voice wouldn't set the woman off.
"I suppose I will have to meet this Saika girl before I jump to any rash conclusions. Kakashi reported that she was powerful enough to take a full force punch from Sakura without so much as a flinch." The woman—age belied by a powerful ninjutsu—looked over her shoulder at her long-time assistant, "if Naruto hadn't told her not to hurt Sakura then Saika would have killed her with a punch so full of chakra that it made it difficult for my pupil to move and impossible to breathe; Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto, and Sai all felt the force of it many yards away." Tsunade bit her thumb in thought, worried about how even she had difficulty summoning that much chakra, let alone into a shape as small as her fist.
"Y-you already knew?" Shizune looked stunned, "And you still pretended to be angry about it?!"
"Kakashi and Yamato neglected to mention that she planned on moving in with Naruto...which proved to be the smartest choice at the time. No doubt I would have beaten them if they had topped off all that other information with that particular bit of information." The woman returned her attention outside; eyes fixed on her grandfather's stern monument, and clicked her tongue against her teeth. "Summon Naruto and this Saika child to my office, I wish to speak with them immediately."
"Hai!" and Shizune gratefully walked out of the office, her heels clicking sharply against the hard floor and the door shutting with a soft click behind her.
Tsunade slumped limply into her seat the moment she heard the lock click home. She filled her sake up to the brim and gulped it down swiftly; filling it and draining it three more times before she allowed her mind to wander back to the problem at hand. With a loud belch she wiped her chin—though she had carefully made sure that all of the alcohol had made it down her throat, This Hokage thing is turning out to be more trouble than it's worth. First, the Akatsuki start to get serious about their search for the jinchuuriki. Then the incident with Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke showing their faces once more after three years and totally breaking Naruto's heart. Neighboring villages are threatening to attack us because we somehow look weak again. And now this supernaturally powerful girl, whose name means 'mistake', shows up demanding a right to hang around Naruto; she looks like she just might be fourteen but claims she's twenty years old and is supposed to serve Naruto like a slave because he saved her from Orochimaru. I can believe in the abduction of the little girl but everything else...? All this Hokage shit can't be good for my looks. The woman rubbed her temples and poured herself another cup of sake with a shaking hand, the alcohol slopping over the side and spilling upon the mahogany desk in a small, clear puddle. She was sure that the gaki(brat) would notice the heavy smell of alcohol in the office but she couldn't bring herself to care. Wait a minute! This is it! I could 'order' Saika to follow Naruto around and be his body guard, the council will get off my back about Naruto being unsupervised, Naruto will be well protected, and this really strong 'woman' will be appeased. Everyone will be happy and I can keep on drinking. Tsunade's eyebrows narrowed in more thought and, after a quick swallow of sake, she voiced them.
"What if she turns out to be the 'bad-guy' after all and I make a huge mistake my letting her be so close to Naruto?"
There was no one to answer her concerns and she was left with her bottle of sake and over active mind as company.