Caught in the Middle

Chapter 3

Your Responsibility

Disclaimer: DOCTOR OCTAGONAPUS! BLAAAAAAAAAAAARG!!!! (No I don't own him either.)

Chapter 3 WOOT!

Okay so this chapter is the shortest of the three, and most the the chapters after this one will look like this one in terms of length and amount of words. It's still a super awesome chapter though, so get going and read on!

ATAAAAAAAACK!!!


It was the dead of night, a little after midnight; Naruto and Karen were both in bed. Naruto of course had his bed, and Karen had taken a second mattress that he'd brought up from his basement. They both slept soundly; Karen unconsciously swishing her tail in her sleep, and Naruto snoring and drooling on his pillow.

It'd been a long day for the both of them. Naruto had been extremely worried about more of those demon hunters showing up and he was even more nervous now that Karen's protection fell on his shoulders. How was he supposed to keep a girl he'd only known for a day safe from highly trained supernatural assassins?

Still, he tried not to worry about it too much. He just had to try his best and believe that things would work out.

Tonight as every night though, no matter how deep a sleep he was in, he always woke up at 12:35 to go to the bathroom. He drearily sidestepped around the kitsune girl, and walked into his bathroom. He flipped on the light and took a seat on the throne. Just as he settled in, he heard a muffled crash.

He shot out of his sleepy daze and re-buttoned his pants, rushing back into his room. At first, he didn't see anything strange at all, but then he noticed that the window over his desk was open. He distinctly remembered closing it before he went to bed.

After what happened at the mall, he wasn't about to take any chances, and moved to wake up Karen. As he reached down though, he felt an arm wrap around his neck and another grab his left arm and put him in an arm-lock.

"Try to wake her and I'll snap your neck," said a clearly feminine voice.

"Who are you?"

"Just a girl trying to make her way in the world," she whispered.

"So you're trying to kill my friend."

Aw, you her little play pal are you? You know, you're pretty cute; for a human anyway," she mused while licking the rim of his ear. It sent a small shiver up his spine.

She jerked him forward and forced him to kneel down. He looked over his shoulder and saw her make a few hand signs like when Karen hid her tail and ears, but in a different sequence. Suddenly his arms and legs felt like five hundred pound weights; he could barely lift them off the ground.

"Now just be a good boy, and once I'm finished maybe we'll have some fun together before I kill you," she giggled.

Naruto struggled frantically to lift any part of his body, but completely failed in his attempts. He watched in a mix of fear, shame, and frustration as Karens second would –be assailant freed a small dagger looking weapon. Its blade was approximately three fourths of a foot long with a handle just long enough for one hand, and a thick ring at the base.

What surprised him most, however, was that he saw two golden-yellow tails swishing from the assassin's lower waist. Another kitsune trying to kill Karen; what the hell was going on?

"Y-you're a kitsune, why would you kill her?"

"Because she's in the way," she said, lowering down to slit her throat.


Itachi sat up and headed to the edge of the house he had perched up on. It was time for his half hour check up on the kid and the girl. He picked up his binoculars and peered into the room. What he saw was something that he was hoping he wouldn't; a kitsune was in the room.

"…shit, I hate my job," he muttered to himself.

He dropped the binoculars and freed his pistol from the holster on his leg. It was an S&W Model 500 with a custom 10.5 inch barrel. (Yes, this gun actually does exist, look it up, it is a BEAST of a weapon.) It held five heavyweight .500 S&W Magnum rounds, and had enough force to blow off half a human's, or kitsune's, head.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them again, revealing them to be blood red instead of their usual onyx black. It was the wonders of the Sharingan nanite combat system. It was a complex system of cellular machines that had a wireless link from his eyes and limbs to his brain, increasing his sense of sight and reaction time as well as his endurance and strength. It was an ingenious system, but only people with specific genetic markers could use it without their bodies rejecting it.

He took aim with his Model 500 and saw a holographic reticule appear in his line of vision. Another advantage to his Sharingan nanites; a small laser target was on the bottom of his barrel which was linked to the nanites in his eyes and brain, allowing them to create a holographic image of where the bullet would end up inside his eyes, and with a 98.74 percent accuracy.

When the holographic reticule was honed in on the kitsune assassin, he squeezed the trigger and let the round fly.


Naruto growled as the blade was mere centimeters away from Karen's neck and she wasn't even awake to defend herself. She was just about to slide the blade across her skin when they both heard a loud bang from outside the window. Not a second later, the entire left half of the second kitsune's head exploded in a cloud of blood, splintered bone, and chunks of brain.

She fell to the floor limply, landing next to the mattress on which Karen slept, or at least, was sleeping. The noise, which could only have been a gun shot, woke her up. She looked down on the fallen fox-demon until the body seemed to disintegrated into the air, leaving not a spot of blood or gore on Naruto's floor.

Naruto shot to his feet as he felt the weight on his arms and legs dissipate, and ran straight to the window. He strained his eyes but couldn't see anything, it was simply too dark. He growled again and ran to the plastic black box that Kakashi had given him and grabbed the P22. He slammed a clip into the slot and cocked back the hammer, but left the safety on, just so he didn't accidentally shoot anyone he didn't mean to. Whoever that was, she was dead now and they appeared to be safe for the most part.

After a quick sweep of the hallways, he was satisfied that there was no one else in the house and returned to his room. He looked over at Karen, who hadn't moved since she woke.

She sat there, the gore and blood that she saw before the body disintegrated bringing up horrid memories of seeing her parent die. The blood had been everywhere and limbs had been hacked across the room, and that wasn't even the worst of it. She felt tears well up in her eyes and fall down her cheeks. She was so out of it that she didn't even realize that Naruto was kneeling down in front of her.

"Karen, are you okay?" she finally heard him ask.

The memories were still flashing through her mind and all she could do was cry. Naruto's overly caring instincts kicked in and defeated his fear of being hit by her as he wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her into a hug. She was too emotionally shocked at the moment to care about looking weak and accepted it, burying her face in his chest and balling her eyes out.

Normally Naruto would have passed out from lack of blood to the rest of body, as most of it would have been being stored in his face at the moment, but he was too worried about what was going on with her on the inside to care how awkward this may have seemed. He tried everything to calm her down, he even began rocking her back and forth and stroked her hair.

"Karen, what's wrong?" he asked in the quietest voice possible.

She offered no response, only shaking her head. He sighed, there was no way he'd be able to get anything out of her until she settled down, so he repositioned himself so he sat next to her on the mattress and dug in from the long haul.

'Holy crap, this girl's a water fountain! She's so closed off and now this, what could've done this to her?'

They sat there like that for the next five minutes or so until he was finally able to make her stop and she settled down. When he let her go, her eyes were extremely red and her nose must have been running because she was sniffing frequently. Naruto put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not going to ask what made you freak out like that, just go to sleep. I'll stay up the rest of the night and make sure no one else gets in here."

Before she could protest, Naruto had already pushed her back onto the mattress and had walked out into the hallway for a quick check of the nearby rooms. Hesitantly, and after one last sweep of the room, she lay back down and went to sleep.


Hours later, the morning came and Karen rose with a yawn and a stretch. She looked around the room as she cracked her neck and knuckles. No bad guys in sight; that was a relief. Now she just had to figure out where Naruto was, and that was the hard part.

"Hey sleepyhead, finally up?" said a groggy but nonetheless present voice.

She looked up at Naruto's bed to see him sitting up against the wall with the P22 in his right hand, and a huge can of Monster in the other. He slid off his bed, albeit clumsily, and knelt down, pulling out the handguns plastic case. After squaring that away, he took a seat on Karen's mattress and yawned.

She looked at him with an expression mixed with surprise and a little frustration.

'The idiot actually stayed up all night?'

A second later, she voiced her thoughts. "I can't believe you actually stayed up all night, what's the matter with you!? You've gotten, like, two hours of sleep!"

He waved her comment off as he took another swig out of the can.

"Please, you act like this is the first time I've pulled an all-nighter. I've done this sort of thing dozens of times. Sure I'm a little out of it now, but my second wind will kick in after a few minutes of moving around."

She sighed angrily but didn't scold him further.

"So, what are we doing today?" she asked dully.

He shrugged. "Beats me, it's Sunday so I usually just stay home and do nothing all day."

He lay on his back and yawned again. Karen looked down at him and still couldn't believe he actually stayed up all night. She honestly didn't expect him to do that. She supposed she did owe him a thanks, he did stay up all night to keep her safe.

"Thank you," she said suddenly.

Naruto looked up with both exhaustion and confusion etched on his face.

"Huh?"

"I guess I just want to thank you for all the stuff you've done for me. You've been a real…friend, to me. I'm sorry I fell apart last night, but that body just brought up some unwanted memories and I really needed a shoulder to cry on; I'm glad you were there," she said, heat working its way onto her face.

Admitting that sort of thing was sort of embarrassing in her eyes, but she was glad that he hadn't mocked her for it.

"Don't sweat it, that's what friends are for," he said, trying to act casual as the comment embarrassed him a bit as well.

"Well, I don't think we should leave the house. After being attacked twice, I don't think being out in the open would be a good idea. We should probably just stay here for a while," said Naruto.

Karen nodded. "I'm fine with that."

"Alright, let's head downstairs for some breakfast. I'll get us some food since I'm pretty much all set for the day anyway, you just do whatever your morning routine is and come down when you're ready. Just remember to hide your tail and stuff."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," she grunted.

Naruto headed out of the room and left her to do whatever she needed to do. He headed downstairs, checking his watch on the way. It was just past nine o'clock, which meant his grandfather wouldn't be up for about a half and hour. He entered the kitchen, already knowing what he was going to make. He open the fridge, grabbing some eggs and bacon along with two pans.

With everything set out, he stepped back and cracked his knuckles.

"Alright...game time."

Upstairs, Karen had already gotten the knots out of her hair, brushed her teeth, and changed her clothes. She was glad she had taken that scroll with her, her old clothes smelled horrid after the events of the previous day. She now wore a pair of tan cargo shorts and a sleeveless shirt that was, of course, red.

All set, she exited Naruto's room and headed downstairs, smelling the strong aroma of meat and eggs. She poked her head in too see what was going on. What she saw was Naruto cooking.

He was shifting from place to place, tending to food, pouring drinks and checking timers. Karen slowly and quietly creptin into the room, not wanting to break him from his fluid set of movements with the distraction of her entrance. She simply sat there and watched him cook, and he was pretty good. He seemed to know exactly what to do for every aspect of whatever it was that he was cooking.

Once he had finally finished with his work, he placed the meal onto plates. He looked back and just grinned.

"Oh hey, I didn't even hear ya come in," he said happily.

"You'll forgive me if I'm not surprised."

At that his smile was replaced by an annoyed scowl.

She sighed. "Relax, I was just joking."

"You're just leaving me in stitches," he mocked.

She shot him an angry glare. "I'l be leaving you in more than stitches if you don't shut it."

"Jeez, alright. Here, breakfast is served."

He placed the plate in front of her and went to sit across the table. She looked down at what he'd cooked; there were a few strips of bacon and some scrambled eggs. It wasn't her favorite breakfast, but she didn't mind. She grabbed a fork that had been placed out for her and ate some of the eggs. To her surprise, they were good, really good.

"I didn't know you could cook," she said, some of her shock reaching her voice.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," he said with a coy smile.

She gave him a strange look. "What's with you?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, I just have a feeling something exciting is gonna happen soon is all."

"As if it hasn't been exciting enough already."

Again, he shrugged. "Yeah, but I can't really explain it. I've just got a feeling that something important is going on somewhere, and I can't help but think we're involved."

"That's just grandeur talking," she said, biting into a strip of bacon.

He sighed and looked out the window. "Maybe..."


All the way in Washington DC, a certain FBPS agent was casually walking and reading while on his way to the Bureau Directors office. Kakashi had a few lower ranking officers keeping tabs on Naruto at the moment back in Konoha city; in fact the blond was the reason he was here. He'd asked about Naruto being recruited into the FBPS as a junior class surveillance officer, and now the Bureau Director wanted to discuss it personally.

He came up on the wooden door with a gold colored label on it that read: "FBPS Director Tusnade Senju". He gave a few quick knocks on the door and put away his book.

"Come in!" came a muffled voice from behind the door.

With that, he twisted the knob and opened the door. On the other side of the door sat two figures, the fist was the Director herself, a blond woman with a green dress shirt and pants, and a bust that made other women green with envy and the men...well you get where he's going with this. The other was Assistant Director Shizune Nemoto. She wore a black work shirt and skirt that reached to just below her knees.

The FBPS agent took a seat across from the Director, Shizune off to the side.

"Agent Hatake, I assume you know why you're here," she said, folding her hands on her desk.

"Yes ma'am, I requested to recruit one Naruto Uzumaki for the FBPS."

She nodded. "That's what I wanted to speak to you about, yes. You do know who his parents were don't you?"

"Of course, Minato Namikaze, the former FBPS Director before yourself was his father. Kushina Uzumaki was his mother, who was a member of the ANBU Black Ops containment and assault squad."

"That's correct, and that's the problem. It was Kushina and Minato's specific wish that Naruto never be indited into the FBPS."

"I'm aware of that ma'am, but with all due respect, Naruto might as well already be part of the FBPS. He's aware of the supernatural world now, and is bonded to a kitsune who just happens to be the daughter of the Kyuubi no Kitsune who was recently assassinated in the coup. They're both at the top of the paranormal hit-list."

"Are you serious!?" asked Shizune.

Kakashi nodded. "I already have reports of two confirmed attacks on the girl, and I would surmise that there have been more than that. They both need the FBPS's protection, and Naruto his this in his blood. He'd be a natural, just like his parents."

"Ma'am, that girl my be the last shot we have at returning a favorable leader to the throne of the kitsune. Naruto and her are bonded together though a magical link, they can't be separated. It only makes sense that he be the one to guard her."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and sighed. Kakashi made a sensible argument, but did she really want to go against his parents wishes, to suck him into the world they specifically wanted him to stay out of? She reasoned it was a bit too late for that, he was already part of this whether he wanted to be or not. He and the girl both needed protection, and the FBPS were the best people for the job.

She nodded. "Fine, make contact them and bring them both here."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Kakashi!" she called to him before he left, "he'll be your responsibility you know."

He put on an eye smile. "Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way."


And there we have it. I once again apologize about the shortness compared to the other chapters, but as I said, most of the chapters from here onward will probably look like this one in terms of lengths unless there's some real important story development.

I still hope you guys liked it.

Now go forth and review and all such activities related to it!