Silver Tiger, Iron Angel Chapter 5, a naruto fanfic

Yay! Fith chapter done! Hope you enjoy :)

"Talking"

Thoughts and flashback

"Kurobi talking"

Kurobi thoughts

Chapter 5

Team Kakashi was seated in the waiting room of Suna's hospital twelve hours later. They had arrived two hours ago in record time, all of them tired. Sakura had immediately rushed into the intensive care section with Temari hot on her heels. Everyone else had been ushered into a waiting room until either Sakura returned and Kankuro was out of danger, or until… well, no one wanted to think about the other option. They often questioned the nurses who passed by, but they were met with the same report every time. Sakura was still working, and Kankuro was not yet showing any improvement. Apparently the poison was unknown to any of the doctors and to Sakura. She was in the process of removing it from Kankuro's body, but it would take a while for the procedure to be complete.

Kiri petrified of hospitals. The smell of chemically cleaned air and white walls all around was making her nauseous and she had a headache. Her hands shook and she knew she must be getting pale. She had had a fear of hospitals for a long time, resulting from a torturous stay after she almost drowned. She sat on a rock hard couch, her legs drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, and her chin resting on her knees. Naruto sat next to her and was trying to sit still and amuse himself with some random object that one of the nurses had given him and Kakashi sat in one of the two wooden chairs across the room.

He was watching Kiri's face carefully as she became paler and paler. He knew that she was barely containing her fear and the fact that she was not bolting for the door as fast as she could was by sheer force of will. He himself was not happy to be there. Most ninjas developed the fear over time. They were just too often seriously injured to enjoy their stay in any hospital, and it was probably magnified tenfold for Kiri. From what he had heard, she had spent a year living in the forests just inside Fire Country. Living in the open for such a long period of time probably resulted in claustrophobia when she returned to living in the village, where everything and everyone was on top of one another. The fact that this was a hospital made the claustrophobia that much worse.

He had been training with her the day she almost drowned and he shivered at the memory.

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(flashback)

"Kakashi, come on, stop holding back on me." A nine year old Kiri huffed. She was drenched in sweat, her clothes ripped in several places, her arms and legs bore numerous shallow cuts, and a nasty looking bruise blossomed on her left shoulder. Her arms and legs were shaking with fatigue, but her breathing remained determinedly even, her katana raised in a guard position. They had been sparring for the better part of four hours and Kakashi was amazed that she was still standing. He was shaking almost as much as she was and sported his own array of scratches and bruises, though his were slightly deeper and more numerous, though far from life threatening.

He had kept the upper hand for almost the entirety of the battle by forcing her to fight at long distance. She was a close range fighter, preferring to use taijutsu and kenjutsu. She had little talent for genjutsu or ninjutsu. He had used mainly ninjutsu so far, keeping her guessing and dodging. She had managed to get close to him a couple times and made it clear that if this had been a purely physical fight, she would have won. Her skills with her katana had been at least jounin level since she had graduated from the academy. He had no idea who had taught her, but they must have been a master. Her weakness though was ninjutsu without a doubt. She had a surprisingly small number of them that she used herself and she frequently had to use the geography and her katana to dodge or block his attacks, which was probably why she had asked him to train with her. He was the top of their class in ninjutsu and he and his teammates, Obito and Rin made up one of the offensively geared groups of their year. She had specifically asked him to throw every ninjutsu he could at her so she could improvise better ways for countering them.

"What's with the hold up, Kakashi?" Kiri sounded confused, hoping maybe he was finally going to admit he was tired so she could get some ramen for dinner.

"I think it is time to finish up. It is getting dark and I have a meeting with my team this evening. How about you take one more try at me and then we will call it a day." Kakashi responded, looking at the darkening sky. The sun was setting and dark clouds were approaching from the south, threatening rain.

"Sounds good to me!" Kiri replied happily. "Hey, can we go no holds barred, there is something I have been practicing and I'd like to see if I can actually use it in combat."

Kakashi nodded before quickly sprinting towards her, warily watching for whatever this new surprise was. She was often overly creative in her counters, balloon clones, laughing gas bombs and other seemingly ridiculous things created more problems and hindrances than one would think. He was surprised to see her actually doing hand signs for a ninjutsu. Even more surprising was that he did not recognize the sequence at all and there were even a few signs that he didn't recognize. She quickly went through thirty different signs before jumping back to avoid his kunai that he had jabbed at her shoulder, continuing for a dozen more signs as she landed. She ended in one of the unfamiliar seals, her palms flat against each other and fingers spread, middle fingers folded over the backs of her hands.

"Tenkuu-yuurei" She whispered, and vanished into thin air. Kakashi froze, she had completely disappeared. There was no scent, no signs of movement, he couldn't even hear her breathing, or sense her chakra signature. It was as if she had disappeared from the face of the earth.

Then he felt a hand strike his neck, right on the pressure point. Pain exploded through his body and he was momentarily paralyzed, dropping to the ground in a heap. She took advantage of his momentary incapacity and swiftly pinned him under her so he could not wiggle free or make any hand signs. As soon as the pain ended, so did his paralysis. He swiftly threw her off and struck out with his hand towards where he though she was. He met with only air. He stretched his senses to the fullest, trying to sense where she was, but there was no indication of where she had been or where she was. He quickly retreated to the forest to hide and think. He had no idea how to fight someone that he had no idea where she was.

Then it happened. Her chakra signature blinked back into existence a few meters away, near a swift moving stream. He heard a splash; she must have ended the jutsu. He swiftly took out a kunai and jumped through the trees towards the stream. He emerged from the trees to find the one thing he did not expect. Kiri's sword was lying half in, half out of the stream in the mud of the riverbank and Kiri was nowhere in sight. Something was horribly wrong. Kiri would never have left her sword in the mud or water, she cherished the weapon like one of her closest friends. He scanned the area for her chakra signature and was horrified to find it flowing down the raging stream of cold water. He immediately took off, running beside the water and scanning the torrent for any sign of his fellow genin. He found her minutes later, almost a half a mile downstream, clinging to a rock on the edge of the stream. She was soaking wet and limp, her head barely held up, several bruises and cuts had appeared over the ones he had given her in sparring. He quickly and carefully removed her from the water, prying off the death grip she had on the rock. It was then that he noticed it. There was a piece of wood lodged in her stomach, piercing through the front of her shirt above her bellybutton and continuing on through her body to emerge from her back, narrowly missing her spine. Blood slowly staining her blue shirt a dark, ominous purple. She groggily raised her head and stared into his eyes, obviously barely conscious.

"Wh..Where is Enkou? Have you s-seen her? A-are you okay? I…" She trailed off weakly as she fell into the blackness of unconsciousness. Kakashi was in shock, his friend was lying in his arms, dying. He…He needed to get her to the hospital. Now. He carefully lifted her, making sure not to jostle the stick and ran for the village as fast as he could.

After he had delivered her to the medics, he sat in the waiting room, shell shocked. All he could think was 'How? How could this happen? To Kiri of all people. She doesn't deserve it. She's always so happy and cheerful, making everyone smile. Why her?'

Then he though back to what she had said before she passed out. Who was Enkou? He didn't know of anyone in the village named that. Wait. Her sword, she must have dropped it.

He checked with the nurse at the front desk for news on Kiri's condition. The news was not good, she was half drowned and the stick was proving difficult to remove, splintering inside her. Luckily they had stabilized her for the most part and were carefully removing the splinters. She also had a severe case of chakra exhaustion, but she was expected to make a full recovery though it would take a while.

Kakashi sagged with relief and thanked the receptionist quietly before heading back to the training grounds. If she cared enough about the sword to ask if it was okay when she was impaled and half drowned, she would probably want it back as soon as possible before it started to rust in the mud.

Two days later Kiri woke up. Kakashi, unfortunately, had to leave on a mission the day before and he spent the entire month long mission worrying about the sword wielding kunoichi. Luckily since it was only a C rank he didn't have too much trouble, even with his concentration wandering.

Unfortunately when he returned, his nightmares diminished to mere fairy tales in comparison to what had occurred while he was gone. The Third Hokage asked him to stay and talk after he and his team had given their mission reports. His stomach dropped to his toes at the sad look in the man's eyes. Something was horribly wrong.

"Kakashi, I know you are friends with Akiri and that you were the one who rescued her and brought her to the hospital, so I thought that it would be best for me to tell you first instead of from rumors or bits and pieces of the story. I'm not really sure how it happened, but a young medic nin student was put in charge of Kiri's care while she recovered. We are not sure exactly what he did to her, but she has not smiled, spoken, eaten, or left her room in the week since she was allowed to return home. She sees no one and won't let any of her other friends enter her apartment. We asked one of the Hyuuga to check up on her using their Byakugan and as far as he could tell, all she did was sit on the windowsill and tremble. Her window is always open, but whenever anyone approaches it, barrages of kunai and other weapons repel them. She won't even let Anko near enough to enter. I would like you to go over and try to talk to her. We have the student imprisoned in the ANBU base, but we have not been able to persuade him to tell us what he did, he seems almost smug about it. Please, go talk to her. We are all extremely worried about her." He sank into his seat as he spoke, sagging with weariness and worry. He was very fond of Kiri, she was always so bright and uplifting, even amusing when he needed a break from paperwork. She always seemed to know when he needed a break from the endless piles of paper and would concoct some of the most amusing pranks to play on one of his staff, right where he would see them. He couldn't imagine what could have happened to leave her like this.

Kakashi felt as if ice were flowing through his veins. He immediately leapt out the open window and towards the apartment where his friend lived, sprinting with an energy he had not thought existed minutes before. He approached her door warily, remembering what the Hokage had said about her window and the kunai. He slowly walked up to it and knocked gently.

"Kiri? Please let me in." He said softly. Silence followed, he didn't hear a single sound as he strained his hearing to sense the slightest shift of cloth or intake of air. Nothing. It was like the place was utterly empty of life. He was overcome with sadness and defeat. Even he couldn't help, what could have been so horrible to make sunny, happy Kiri to become so much like a corpse. He slowly turned the doorknob and found it unlocked. It squeaked open slowly to reveal Kiri's living room. Everything was clean, like someone had just move in and hadn't yet unpacked anything. the furniture, rugs, even the kitchen was neat. Where was the usual clutter? The trash, the random knives and shuriken lying around waiting to be stepped on? Then he looked to the window seat on the opposite side of the room.

The glass was pushed open and the screen was no longer in place. Kiri lay on the cushioned seat, her head resting on the frame of the window, looking out on the forest beyond Konoha's wall. Her limbs were limp and pale, her clothes wrinkled, dirty, and torn in several places. There were dark circles under her eyes, which had lost all their light, now a dull, flat shade of navy. Something was clutched to her chest limply with one arm like a lifeline.

He walked over to the haunted girl and carefully embraced her. At first she lay in his arms as if she really was a corpse. Then, slowly, she began to hug him back, burying her face in his shoulder, silent tears slowly coursing down her eyes and soaking his shirt. They simply stood there for nearly half an hour while Kiri finally let out her tears. When she was done, she gently pulled away and looked at him, her eyes red and puffy, but now a slight spark had returned to their blue depths. She turned back to the window seat and retrieved the object that she had been holding before. It was Enkou in its plain black sheath. The black leather-wrapped handle and dull black crosspiece showing while the sheath hid the blade that was four and a half hands in length and a matching dull black. The orange designs engraved in the crosspiece and pommel glowed softly in swirling patterns that led the eyes from one line to the next, never seeming to end or begin. She held the sword gently in both hands and carried it over to the spot under her bed where she always kept it, returning to him and standing in front of him, looking lost, but hopeful that he could help her find a way. He inwardly sighed with relief as she smiled at him.

The memory was far from a pleasant one. It was one of the few times in his life that he had been truly and utterly scared. He couldn't imagine what had happened to her while he was on his mission; she had never been able to tell him nor anyone else as far as he knew. It had taken him and their entire genin class and their sensei two months to even get her to smile regularly again. She hadn't been back to her sunny, prankster self for just under a year. Now she was back in the place that had caused all that misery. It would probably be imperative that he get her out of here before she could give into her fear. She had held up for an amazingly long time, until the day she died, she wouldn't even walk the street that the hospital had its main entrance on. Medics had been forced to treat her either in her home or just where she fell on the rare occasions that she was hurt seriously enough to need medical attention. Luckily she had gotten over her fear of the medics rather quickly, even befriending one of the nurses who had cared for her. Two hours inside of a hospital was a major record. He decided that that was enough and stood up from his hard chair., his butt muscles protesting at the movement after being effectively flattened. He ignored them and approached his team (minus a certain medic).

"Kiri, Naruto, I know you want to wait for Sakura and that you are concerned for Kankuro-san, but sitting here is counterproductive. Why don't we go to the inn down the street and get our belongings settled, that way we can all hit the hay as soon as Sakura is done." He eye smiled at them and grinned under his mask at the thankful look in Kiri's eyes. Naruto set down his brainteaser puzzle (which was still in a jumbled mess) and stretched. Kiri nodded and stood up carefully, keeping her mouth closed, lips pursed tightly together and led the way quickly towards the entrance, gripping the chain hanging around her hip so hard that she left imprints of her fingers in the links. As they pushed out the doors into the cool night air, she visibly relaxed, sighing with relief and letting go of the strangled chain.

Kiri was eternally grateful once again to her silver haired friend. She suspected that had she stayed in that place a minute longer, she would have likely fainted. She chuckled at the thought, that would have been an interesting way to show the Suna nin that she was a strong capable kunoichi. Not. She decided not to dwell on it as she laid out her change of close for tomorrow and made sure that she had not forgotten anything when she was packing. She would be sharing her room with Sakura and Kakashi and Naruto were in the next room over. The two double beds were fluffy and comfortable. Kiri just hoped that they had enough comforters stocked in the closet so that she wouldn't have to ask for more. She knew that nights in the desert tended to be deathly cold.

She was getting better with her claustrophobia. Being inside now didn't even bother her and spending that long in the hospital proved that her constant self-imposed training was finally paying off. She had spent as much time as possible inside during that boring lay low month, forcing herself to get used to walls and ceilings again. Now where had she packed that scroll…

She found what she was looking for and brought the scroll over so she could sit on the bed and read. She had taken to jotting down random prank ideas as they popped into her mind so that she could remember them for later. She had already filled up two and was on her third. She grinned at the last idea she had written down the night before back in her apartment with Anko. She needed some cheering up, maybe she could get in a quick prank before they left to search for the Kazekage. It would help everyone relieve the tension that was building in every one of them to the point that you could sense it just by coming within a mile of them.

Then she thought about Naruto. That had been the Kyuubi's chakra that had been invading his chakra network on their journey.

That was the Kyuubi, I'm sure of it. If that's just a sample of what happens when he loses control, I don't think I want to be around if anything serious happens. Even with Kurobi's help, it would be really hard to get him back under control. I need to deal with this now, before we go hunting the Akatsuki members who took Gaara-sama. If he loses control around them, they'll be more likely to capture him since he isn't thinking rationally.

She stood and stowed away the scroll in her pack, going to the door, quickly picking up the key, and walked briskly to the guy's room. She knocked on the door.

"Hey Naruto! If you're decent, can I come in? It's kinda important and my butt is tired of sitting still." A wet, drippy haired blond opened the door, dressed in a fresh black t-shirt and his orange pants.

"What is it?" He asked curiously. Kiri was so rarely serious that she looked kind of weird. He tried to contain his laughter, putting his hand over his mouth to try and hide his struggles.

"What? What's funny? Where" Kiri looked around, dropping her serious face.

"Nothing, nothing." Naruto said barely containing his mirth. "So what was it you came for?"

"Naruto, I need to talk to the Kyuubi." Kiri said. Naruto froze and stared at her, a little startled at the random statement and slightly confused.

"Ummm, Kiri? The Kyuubi's sealed inside of me, you can't really talk to it." Naruto said, his confusion making an appearance center stage.

"Its possible. Kakashi, could me and Naruto have some time alone to work on this?" Kiri asked the man standing behind his student in the doorway.

"This being what?" Kakashi asked, puzzled.

"Kyuubi forcibly taking control of Naruto's body when he's angry."

"Oh, okay. I'll see you two later. We're going to be leaving to search for Gaara-sama as soon as possible so get back to get some sleep. We don't know the next time we'll get some with you two being so energetic and your completely one track minds." Kakashi said, turning and walking back into the room with a wave.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kiri and Naruto yelled at the jounin, but he had already collected his pajamas and claimed the bathroom to shower.

Kiri turned back to Naruto and motioned for him to follow her outside. They left the inn and walked to the small park across the road. It was getting much darker, but the streetlights provided adequate lighting along with the fireflies flitting about. Kiri wanted to be well away from the chance of anyone seeing them in case things didn't go well. The stone pathway let windingly among trees and flower beds, ending in a clearing with some benches and a pond.

"Okay, this probably isn't going to be the most amusing or fun thing in the world so lets get it over with. Then we can start training tomorrow." Kiri perked up when she mentioned training.

"Do you want to tell me what in the world we are doing?" Naruto said, still oblivious to what they were doing. " What are we going to be doing and why are we training tomorrow? We have to go get Gaara!"

" I know that." Kiri said solemnly. " But if we're going to go after two members of an organization whose purpose is to capture Jinchuuriki tomorrow, it would probably be best if we get this done as soon as possible. It would be a really bad idea for you to have the Kyuubi take over while we're fighting them. Tonight I'm going to talk to the Kyuubi and figure out what in the world is making her go psycho, and then tomorrow you can spend a few hours training with me and working on your ability to fuse with her."

"Oh…..Wait, who's her?"

Kiri smacked her forehead with her palm.

"Kyuubi, Naruto. Jinchuuriki are able to utilize their demon's chakra and elemental manipulation by fusing with them. It is neither painful, nor harmful to your body. Or at least it shouldn't be. That's why I have to talk to her so we can figure out what the hell is going on with her taking over your body by force."

"Oh…Wait! What do you mean her? Kyuubi's a GIRL!!!"

Another palm to the forehead.

"Naruto, why don't we get started before my hand leaves a permanent mark on my forehead? And yes Kyuubi is female. I don't know where everyone got the idea that she's a guy." Kiri said, finally getting tired and feeling the effects of a mad dash across the desert. She slowly sat down and crossed her legs, her legs and butt complaining about all the sitting still she was doing. Usually she couldn't be still for more than a minute. She waved the blond over, inviting the him to sit facing her. He did so and copied her position, his hands on his knees.

" What do I have to do?" he asked.

" Nothing. Just focus inward on Kyuubi. Try to see if you can get into your mindscape and find the Fourth's seal that holds her back." Kiri said, closing her eyes. "I'll do the rest."

"Well, that's easy" Naruto said closing his eyes too.

Kiri focused inward on her own mindscape. It only took a moment's concentration until she found herself in a bright forest, standing on a well-traveled dirt path. It was warm and summer-like, the leaves still green on the trees and the sun just peeking over the horizon in the east. She followed the path deeper into the wood, traveling past the crossroads and intersections on the well known way to her destination. She had never really spent a whole ton of time actually exploring, so most of the roads led to unknown destinations, but during the year before she had returned to Konoha, she had spent most of her time training with Kurobi so she was sure of the way. She finally came to his clearing. It was large and had a few trees and flowers dotting it here and there, a pond at the opposite end which she knew was perfectly warm and crawling with minnows that she and her demon had spent hours chasing after training. Kurobi was lazing under one of the shadier trees, taking a nap, his gigantic white and black head resting on a root and his twelve tails splayed out behind him on the grass, twitching occasionally as he dreamed. She had allowed him the freedom to roam through her mindscape as he wished, since they had become good friends and she trusted him. The only outward sign that he was bound to her was the thin metal collar that circled his neck. It wasn't thick and looked more like a cord that wound around his neck in an endless circle, a line of different symbols traveling the circumference. She had no idea what they meant or did, but since she had no interest in sealing jutsu, she didn't really care and Kurobi hadn't taken the time to explain them so she trusted that they weren't especially important.

She smiled at the peaceful scene and walked quietly over to her large furry friend's head.

"Kuro, hey wake up! Its time to go talk to the Kyuubi and I can't do it by myself." Kurobi blinked open one blue eye which was surprisingly identical to hers before yawning and closing it again.

"Five more minutes." he mumbled

"Nope, I'm exhausted and I really want to get to sleep before the sun rises. Can we get this over with, please? Plus I'm not exactly going to enjoy myself if she recognizes me. Would you get your furry butt up!" She emphasized her last sentence by bending down and trying to lift his enormous weight with her arms around his middle. Even in her mindscape he was big, probably almost seven feet tall at the shoulder

"Heh heh heh. Okay, I'm up. No need to pick me up like a rag doll. It's not exactly dignified for a demon to get thrown around by a mortal. Alright, now what's this about?" He slowly got to his feet as Kiri removed her arms, his eyes opening half way and flicking to the girl. He admired her and liked her a great deal, kind of like a little sister, but why did she always seem to need him or someone to talk to just when he was having a nice nap? He shook his head, deciding that the gods intended him to be an insomniac, and finally paid attention to what his container was saying.

".. So how are we going to solve the problem of her recognizing me? If she does she'll probably be more uncooperative or try to kill me or something, but I have to go along since you're bound to me." Kiri finished a long rambling explanation of what had happened, unaware of the inattention of her audience.

Good thing I actually caught the important part, otherwise she might have gotten mad. mental shiver. Last time that happened it was thunder and lightning and tornadoes in here for a week. I hate getting wet.

"Well there is an easy solution, use your other form. You didn't have that then did you?" The demon supplied.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Why in the world didn't I think of that! Geeze, good thing you're here or I'd forget my own left hand." She exclaimed, a light bulb appearing and lighting up over her head before disappearing with a weird pop. She quickly make a tiger hand seal and poofed into her tiger form.

She hadn't used her tiger form since she had returned to Konoha, and for a mostly good reason. Nobody really felt comfortable talking to a five foot nine inch tiger. She knew her new and old friends were accepting, but saying, "Hi guys. Oh don't worry, it's still me. I just gained the ability to turn into a giant, talking black tiger with silver stripes when I became a Jinchuuriki. Do you want to go make some smores?" was probably not the smartest thing to do if you wanted to avoid screaming and hysteria and long explanations. Before she had rejoined civilization she had spent a lot of time in her tiger form and she frequently missed having overly large teeth and claws to protect herself with. Humans just didn't have any natural weapons at all and it was so cold without fur.

She quickly adjusted back to having four legs and head butted Kurobi in the shoulder, knocking him onto his side.

"That's for not paying attention. Come on, Naruto's probably waiting for us and getting harassed by an angry fox." She said as the demon regained his feet with a huff.

Doesn't anyone have any respect for demons anymore? Kurobi thought, rolling his eyes.

"Alright, I'm going. Follow close, if you get lost in between I am not going to wait for you." He grumbled before walking over to her. She humphed and lay down. Kurobi carefully placed his paws and stood over her so her head was between his front paws. They had not done this often, going into the mind of another creature. Kiri still found the process slightly disturbing, but calmly rested her head on her paws and closed her eyes to concentrate. Kurobi dropped his head to rest his chin on top of her head and they both disappeared with a whoosh as the air rushed to fill in the empty space where they had once been.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto once again found himself in his mindscape. It wasn't exactly a pleasant place, it resembled a flooded sewer and the light was always dim, making things hard to see. He had become accustomed to finding the Kyuubi's cage while he was training with Jiraya, he frequently needed some of its chakra when he over used his own during training. He walked calmly down the dripping hallways, feet splashing on top of the stream of water flowing down the middle of it. He didn't really enjoy talking to the short tempered fox, it frequently ended in him having to dodge large claws made of red chakra that reached through the bars of the cage. He sighed and made his way among the halls towards the demon. If Kiri could help him to use its power without hurting himself, then he would put up with the fox's abrasive personality. If it meant that he could protect Sakura, Kiri, Kakashi, and his other friends better and it gave him a better chance of finding Sasuke, then he would do anything.

Grrr, this one took longer than I thought. I went through two different versions before I wrote this one. Oh, well. It will definitely get better/happier/not so depressing after this. As always, pwease review. It always makes me happy to see that people are actually reading this. :3

See ya before it snows, -X-Amira-X- :)