This is a really short chapter, sorry. I wanted it to be longer, but thought you guys waited long enough. So lets just call this a teaser for next chapter.

Remember, the poll is still active. So, go to my profile to vote on who you wish Natsuki to end up with. If you can't vote, feel free to drop a review about your opinionsand/or who you wish Natsuki to have a romantic relationship with. And, if you'd like, who Kurama should pursue.

The Academy

Chapter Four

For the first time in days, Natsuki felt alive. Every day she had to deal with the looks her peers would give her, although they never notice how much those looks affected her. She could never understand why those looks of disgust, and often times, hatred could affect her so. Every day, as far back as she could remember, she had always seen those eyes in every one around her, except for two.

Her brother had always been there, in her memories, when she was a child. He taught her everything growing up. He taught her how to survive off of the nature that surrounded them when the villagers had run them out of the village. Natsuki held no memories of the life they had before the streets, she held no memories of the woman who had bore her or of the man who had helped in her creation. She could only remember her red headed brother who had taken their place.

For as long as she could remember, the villager of the Leaf had always hated her and Kurama. She did not know the reason, but knew it had something to do with the past she had no memory of.

Her first memory was when she was about five. Her blonde hair was up in two pony tails, and she wore red overalls that were slightly bigger with an orange shirt underneath. Her feet were clear of any shoes and were rough and dirty due to the ground she walked on. Tucked between her stubby tan arms was a red stuffed fox. Natsuki did not know where she had gotten it, but she knew it was old. Beside her was her brother, Kurama. He was a tall boy of the age of nine. The ends of his shaggy red hair barely met his shoulder. He wore blue shorts that were obviously too small for the boy and a large black shirt. He walked besides Natsuki, with a small hand placed protectively on her back as they walked through the village. Glares where shot at them, but they paid no attention just keeping sight at the floor in front of them.

When she had reached the ripe of age of twelve and her brother the age of sixteen, her brother decided it was time they left the rotten village they had lived in. He had saved up some money from the odd jobs he had taken up doing to support him and his sister. Although he could have definitely made more money inside the gang life, he never turned his head in that direction for the protection of Natsuki. She was all he had, and he knew that if he had gotten caught up in the gang life, her life would be in more danger than it ever was.

In the days before they were to leave, Natsuki had caught a very dangerous sickness. Kurama had taken her to the only person he knew that would help them, Umino Iruka. When Kurama and Natsuki had lived in the orphanage for a short period of time, they had met with Iruka. He was one of the oldest, at the age of fifteen when he had met an eight year old Kurama and the four year old Natsuki. Iruka was the only person to give them a chance, and as a result, became a sort of older brother figure for them, becoming fiercely protective of them. When Iruka was sixteen, he was emancipated and left the village to pursue an education. He had come back to the village when Natsuki was ten, with a degree to be able to become a teacher in the medical field.

Iruka examined Natsuki and informed a stricken Kurama that she would not survive if she were to travel. A few days passed, and the newly awaken Natsuki told her brother to leave without her. In the days that followed, a reluctant Kurama had left the village and a saddened Natsuki had cried.

Days went by, than weeks, followed by months had followed without word from her dear brother, Natsuki was convinced that something terrible had happened. During that time, though, Iruka worked eagerly with two of his most trusted people to educate Natsuki, in hopes that she would catch up with the rest of the children her age. She had surpassed all of their expectations by going through all of her education within a year. With the grief of her dearest brother's possible death soon catching up to her, she quickly found an escape, underground fighting.

She had stumbled upon it one night. Iruka had been working nights during that time, so to pass the empty minutes that seem to fill her every waking moment, Natsuki would walk through village. When she felt the pulsing of the music beneath her feet, her legs followed what she felt in careful steps, soon meeting the sound of music whose beats matched the pulsing that moved through her body.

Although she did not know it, but she had just found her release for all of bundled up emotion. She knew she had serious skill with her fighting ability since her harsh childhood had made it as a lifelong training session.

She didn't have any money to enter herself in the ring, but a few of the members from a famous gang, The Hokages, had noticed her when she first came. They were always kind to her and Kurama, and had known of the struggles they faced. They brought her up to their leader at that time, and he decided to sponsor her, knowing she had yet to be in the ring.

That day was the day her world changed. She had become more involved in the gang life, making friends in the highest places of the Hokages. She didn't ask to be in the gang, and they didn't ask, but she was held in high respect.

By the time she was fifteen, she had moved out of Iruka's, and lived in her own apartment with the money she earned from her weekly fights. When Kurama had come back with a pack of his own, he had found her in the middle of a fight. It was safe to say he was not happy to what he had come back to.

Natsuki's mind had finally snapped back inside her head. This would happen often; she figured it out over the years, it was as if her body was on auto pilot. She didn't have to think about her movements, her body just reacted on her own.

She was crouching on top of the beast of a man who was now full of blood coming from various places Natsuki could see. Her small fist was less than an inch from the man's face, so close she could feel the heat coming from the man's body. His eyes were open, but Natsuki could only see the white of his eyes while he breathed ragged breaths.

Behind her, the silence that had taken place had broken like a damn with cheers of excitement coming from the men and women surrounding her. Quickly, Natsuki jumped up and with a heavy breath, she turned to meet the endless black eyes. She could scarcely make out who it was that grabbed her wrist and pulled her through a crowd. All she knew was that the hand that gripped her wrist was large, warm, and unknowingly comforting to her.