Sorry once again. I just keep forgetting to update this story! :( I will try to change that. I know I keep saying that, but this time I will try!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN Naruto nor any of its characters, just my own!

Chapter Six: Uzumaki

Sana nodded her thanks.

Gaara looked at Naruto before saying, "I need yo talk with you, Naruto." The blond let out a playful groan and stood up. He stretched real fast before Gaara turned away and with Naruto following close behind, started to walk back the way he entered the room. Kankuro stood up as well and quickly pursued after them, leaving Temari and Sana alone in the room.

Once the three boys left, Temari watched Sana with a thoughtful expression. "So, Sana, how old are you?"

Sana looked up from her hands and answered, "Eleven."

The other chick nodded. "So, you're an eleven year old girl. Do you like to shop?"

"Shop?"

"Don't tell me you don't know what shopping is." She raised an eyebrow, a bit shocked. When Sana just looked at her, she explained, "You know, buying stuff. Clothes and shows and jewelery and new weapons." Then she thought, 'I guess she's never been shopping before.'

The eleven year old nodded her head in understanding. "Oh, shopping. Well, to tell you the truth, I've only been shopping once."

With the shock clearly on her face, Temari blinked. "Really?" Sana nodded her head. Then, Temari smiled with an evil grin on her face. "Well then, that's going to change."

XxxxX

Gaara led Naruto and Kankuro out into the hallway and closed the door so that the two in the room couldn't hear them. He turned to the blond. "Explain." He crossed his arms like he always does whenever he expected an explanation or story or a report. One of his signature stances, some would say.

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes. "I was coming home a few weeks ago when I ran into a campsite. The site was trashed out with all of these men lounging around. From the sight of them, I could tell they were bandits. And from looking at their stuff and some of the guys cleaning the blood off their swords and other weapons, they just got down terrorizing a village. So, I killed the lot so they wouldn't be messing with anyone else."

"What about the girl?" Kankuro asked, standing in the same stance as his biological brother. He tilted his head towards the closed door, indicating Sana.

Naruto's expression changed and turned serious with an edge to it. "Sana's father treated her like a slave. She had chains around her wrists and neck and was wearing dirty, torn clothes. If you saw her there, looking like she was, you would have done the same thing. She didn't belong there. Not to mention that her father was the leader of the bunch, making it worst of all.

"So, after I killed the men, I took her and went to find a village." He continued. "I left her with a nice family in a village and left her there. When I left, she was asleep. About an hour or two later, I was on my way here when I felt someone following me."The person following me was Sana." Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "I questioned her about why she followed me and lets just say she didn't want to live there and wanted to stay with me." His expression became thoughtful but still had an edge to it like he didn't want to say what had really happened. "I've been training her for the last three weeks."

"What else?" Gaara prompted.

"There is none. I haven't gotten her back story of what had happened to her yet. I gave her mine, though, hoping that it'll help her trust me more to share some things." Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes with a sigh. "I can say though, that part of her trusts me, and the other part doesn't." When he reopened his eyes, they were troubled.

Gaara's expression was unreadable, like always. "So you took her in." He sounded like he was just making sure that's what his step-brother meant. "So you're allowing her to live with you?"

Naruto nodded his head. "Until she doesn't want to be around me. I'm not forcing her to do anything she doesn't want to. And, if she doesn't want to live with me, then I won't stop her in leaving. I just wanted to make sure she was away and lived a free life. If she want's to stay with me, she is welcomed."

After a moment of silence, Naruto asked, "Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

Gaara nodded his head. "Just making sure." With their talk now done, the three shinobi walked back into the room where the two girls were still seated on the couches.

Temari and Sana were still in the same places when the boys got back. Though, they had started talking. When the boys came into view, they stopped and watched them come over and took their original places.

"Welcome back." Temari greeted with a smile saying you-better-tell-me-what's-happening-later.

Naruto got comfortable on the couch next to Sana and leaned back. She greeted him with a shy smile and a nod of her head. Gaara now stood behind Naruto's couch instead of sitting down. For some reason, he always found standing more comfortable.

"So, what were you two talking about?" Naruto asked, starting up a conversation.

Sana looked over to Temari who grinned. "Oh, nothing that concerns you."

The blond furrowed hie eyebrows and frowned. "C'mon, you know I hate hate when you do this!" He whined, giving the impression that he was ten instead of his twenty-one years.

"If I tell you," Temari grinned, having that evil smile in place and gave a wink over to Sana. "Then you'll have to come shopping with us and pay for whatever we want."

Naruto gulped, losing his frown. "Uh . . . So, Gaara, how was the meeting?" He asked, changing the subject as fast as he could. He leaned his head back to look at the Kazekage upside down.

As they talked, Sana started to loosen up and relax. She found herself leaning into the comfortable couch. The bickering and playful arguments reminded her of her mother and few siblings she had. Even though they were all young, they still playfully argued. She felt her eye lids slowly close on her, having no more energy to keep them opened. Her breathing slowed down until each breath was even and smooth.

While the four siblings continued their playful bickering, well, Naruto and Kankuro, Sana was dozing off, comfortable where she was. But, while she started to fall asleep she began to get into the position she always sleeps in. She slowly curled into a ball and snuggled up against what she thought was a pillow.

"Huh?" Naruto stopped talking when he felt someone gently grab his arm and felt that someone lean on him. He looked down and smiled. Sana was asleep and subconsciously snuggling against him.

"Well, should we be concerned, Naruto?" Temari teased, though she thought it was cute how Sana just grabbed a hold of him in her sleep.

Like a little kid, Naruto turned to the chick and stuck his tongue out at her. When Temari stuck her tongue out at him, he rolled his eyes and looked back down to Sana. "I guess I tired her out by all of the running today." He said and gently brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

'That, or maybe she's just found peace and is relaxing.' Kyuubi commented in his head. She watched the child with a warm expression. For the first time since they met her, this was the first she ever looked so in peace.

"Well, I'm going to go put her in my room where she can sleep without being woken up by Kankuro's yelling." Naruto smirked to Kankuro who glared at him. He lightly pulled his arm out of her grasp and scooped her into his arms as gently as possible, trying not to wake her up. In his arms, Sana immediately snuggled against his chest. "I'll be back," He said and walked out of the room and down the hallway he, Gaara, and Kankuro were occupying half an hour ago.

During the walk to his room from the living room, it was quiet. Not even the light from the holders made any sound. Best time to let your mind wonder and that is exactly what Naruto did.

/What you said earlier, Kyuubi, could it be true? That she found peace, I mean./ Naruto thought, wondering if that could be true.

'Well, she seems relaxed. And by the way her expression is, she's in peace. I don't think you fall asleep looking like that and is mad about something, do you? And when she fell asleep against you, she's never done that before. Right now, her aura is calm.' The fox answered.

/Aura? You can feel that?/ Naruto asked, a bit surprised. You may always say you know everything about a person, but you always find out that is a lie.

Kyuubi rolled her eyes. 'Oh kit, you are something. For the millionth time, I have already answered that question. Make sure it sticks to that small brain of yours. Yes, I can feel people's auras. Though, you have to be at close radius if I am able to read it.' Naruto sent back a cocky grin in response to her answer.

'I always ask myself why I was even locked inside you. Why couldn't my vessel be someone smarter?' She mused.

Naruto turned down a hallway, /If you had someone else, you'd miss me too much. Don't deny the truth./ He added when the fox rolled her eyes.

He stopped right outside one of the many doors on the hallway. Though, unlike all of the other doors, in the middle of the wood was the spiral symbol of the Leaf village. He may have been banished, but he still held onto his old life, but like he still held on to his old head band even if he doesn't wear it anymore. As gently as he could, he adjusted Sana so he could open the door.

Even though evening has not yet approached, the room was pitch black. The only light seen was from the hallway, illuminating a few objects in the room. The blond took a step into his room and flipped the light switch on to reveal a bed, dresser, a desk with a lamp, and another door that went to the bathroom.

Naruto walked further into the room and went to the bed. He slowly placed the sleeping girl on his bed and grabbed a blanket at the end to place over her. He turned around to leave, but something grabbed his wrist. He turned around to see sleepy green eyes watching him.

"Sana, sorry to disturb you, but I thought you wanted to sleep on something more comfortable." Naruto explained.

The little girl released him and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her dazzling green eyes. She muttered, "You know," she said in a soft voice, "you told me about you and your life. I, I was thinking that if you are to trust me, I should tell you mine. You already allowed me to live with you and invited me to your home. I think it's only fair."

Naruto frowned, touched that she wanted to share, but he didn't find it necessary right now. "You don't have to-,"

Sana cut him off with a small shake of her head. "I want you to trust me, but in order to do that, you need to know a bit more about me." Naruto nodded and sat down on the edge of his bed, waiting for her to start. Sana brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her slender arms around them.

She started off in a small, quiet voice. "I know you're curious about my father and why he did what he did. But, just so you know, he wasn't always like that.

"When I was around five years old, I lived with my father, my mother, and my two younger brothers. We were a happy family. Me and my brothers were more closer to my mother because she was always home while my father went to work. That's how it always is with every family. Well, we loved our mother very, very much. She protected us from everything; from bugs to snakes, from bullies at the academy to when my father got mad." Sana's eyes glazed over as she spook. "Even though we were a happy family, my father always got into a drunk rage whenever he was either mad or something happened at work." Naruto stayed quiet, but mentally, growled in his throat.

"Sometimes at night, my father would come home late because he was out drinking his problems away. When he got home, he always yelled very loudly and sometimes, he even hit my mom. It usually depended on how mad he and drunk he was if he came into the room I shared with my two other brothers. I was usually huddled with my brothers on my bed, hugging them tight, wishing for my father to stop yelling. But, that never happened. If he came into our room, he would pry me from my brothers and he would . . . he always hit me and yell at me. I was too little to understand what he was yelling about."

She paused for a moment, lost in her memories.

Gently, Naruto placed a hand on hers. She didn't look up, though he whispered in an encouraging voice, "Go on."

"Well, it stayed like that for a little over a year. We couldn't tell anyone because he threatened to kill my younger brother." Tears welled up into her eyes. "And that's exactly what happened. Just one time, I was talking to one of the officers because they were asking about a bruise I had on my cheek. I told them that I fell. They believed me and didn't questioned me anymore and they left. That only last for like a minute . . . Well, when I got home, my mother, my mother was sitting with her back to the door in a growing puddle of blood. I got scared." Now, the tears fell freely down her cheeks and she did nothing to wipe them away. "My father somehow saw me talking to the officer. He thought . . . he thought I had told him that he was abusing us. He . . . he killed my little brother!

"After that," she sniffled as she continued, "my mother tried to run away with me and my other brother. We thought we got a good ways, but, my father had followed us. He caught up with us when we stopped to take a break and he, he . . . . Right in front of me, he slaughtered my defenseless brother and my mom." This time, she buried her head in her knees. In a muffled voice, though Naruto could still understand her, she continued, "My father didn't want to be found out that he killed his family, minus me. So he ran away from our home, forcing me to go along with him. We were living on the road, stealing from people and killing others. I kept trying to run away from him, to escape, but he would always find me, hurt me, and then forced me to stay with him. Along the way, my father started gathering followers. With the other guys, my father treated me more like a slave and always had me run and cook them something to eat or give them 'entertainment'." She shuddered. "It's been like that until you found me. For five years, I lived like that."

As she finished her story, Kyuubi, who had been listening whispered, 'She's had a ruff childhood.'

Naruto nodded and scooted over to sit beside her. He gently pulled her into her arms and asked her, " What were your brothers names?"

"Cal and Caito. They were twins." Sana sobbed. She lifted her face from her knees and buried it into Naruto's chest as she continued to cry. The blond nodded and took her pony tail out of her hair. Slowly, he ran his hand through her hair to help calm her down.

"You know, I can't relate to your life, but, I can help ease some of your pain." Naruto whispered. He rested his cheek on top of her head. "When I was still growing up, I didn't have a family or any friends. No one liked me because I had Kyuubi in me. I was abused and was called 'Demon Child' so it was very hard to make friends. By that time, I didn't know about Kyuubi. That kind of information was kept top secret from the new generation, even from me. Only the adults knew about it because they witnessed it. My mother and father both died when the Nine-Tails fox attacked the Leaf village so I didn't have any siblings. It wasn't until I was apart of Squad Seven that I actually gained friends. Twelve years later and I made friends with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha and my sensi Kakashi Hatake. Then, I started to gain more friends, but, what I'm trying to really get at, is I know what it's like losing a brother. It's not exactly the same of how you lost your family, but in a way, it is."

Sana tilted her head up a bit to peak at him with one of her red, puffy eyes. Naruto lifted his head off of hers.

He continued, thankful that he was calming her down even if it was just a bit. "Me and Sasuke, we really hated each other. He was the cool, good looking guy with everyone liking him while I was the class clown."

"Then, how'd you become friends?" Sana asked in a soft, broken voice. Tears remained flowing out of her eyes and down her cheek.

Naruto sadly smiled as he relived his own memories. "We never officially became friends. Well, kind of. We became friends, but we annoyed each other so much, people wouldn't even give us a second thought that we were friends. That's just how we were. Secretly, without us even realizing it, we became best friends. We really didn't take notice until one day we were fighting each other to try to kill one another. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but, I will have to tell you that story a different time. It's just, I know how you feel when you say you lost your family because someone killed them. I lost my best friend, my brother, and it was devastating. I never met my parents, so I wouldn't know about that."

"By the sound of it, your friend, he didn't die." To affirm her guess, Naruto nodded. "So, there's always a way to get him back. There's no way to bring Cal and Caito back. They're dead." More tears slide down her face like a never ending river.

Naruto thought for a minute. Even though he was just trying to find a way to get her to stop crying, which had sort of worked, he thought of something that made him nervous to ask. Would she say yes? "Sana, how 'bout, if you want a brother, you've got one."

She shook her head and hid her face again against his chest. "I can't. My mother is already dead. She cannot have anymore kids."

Naruto chuckled. "That's not what I meany. You need someone to love you and protect you. You know, I've never had a little sister before." The arms around him tightened. "How would you like to become my Imoto-chan?" He asked, using the Japanese term of little sister.

Sana stiffened at the question. Then, without further-ado, she nodded her head and cried, "Yes. As long as you will be my Nii-sama." She said using the Japanese term of big brother. Naruto nodded and hugged her tightly against him.

"But, I need to know just one thing, Sana. I know this sounds crazy and funny at the same time, but what's your last name?"

"I-I don't know. It's been so long since I've used it. I guess, I don't really have one." She whispered.

Naruto nodded again. "Would you like one?" Sana nodded her head. "Well, then, welcome to the family, Sana Uzumaki."

XxxxX

Till next time.

Well, how's that for Sana's past life. Five years living like that. Man, I would hate that! . Please tell me how you like it!

And, I will try to get more up. It's summer now! Whooooa!