The hustle and bustle of the small town did nothing to distract Naruto from the fact that they were heading into a sketchier area. That and he was finally hit with the reality of his unreal situation. What was Iruka thinking right now? He was definitely going to be worried, that's just what the man did. He was the only person in Naruto's life that truly cared for him and suddenly he dissapeared. The frog said he was property now, there was no telling what was going to happen to him. Also, who was he kidding, determination dripped away from him with every step, every sway, every odd "person" that passed.
They came out of an alley and against the back of the right building was a crate with others on it. He was flipped right way around and they cut his legs appart. Naruto stumbled while the world spun and when it stopped he looked at the others; who seemed to be in his exact situation. One looked human, except she had a large lump bulging out of her forehead. Next sitting on the crate was another toad but was shorter than Naruto and looked very nervous, continually gulping and quivering every now and then. Naruto was shoved backwards into the crate so his knees buckled and he sat, bumping into the toad, who blanched, "Ugh" it sneered, "Human stink."
Naruto glared, "Watch it." He growled, his gag having fallen off in transit.
His captors were talking with what he assumed were other slave traders. That stung; he just realized he was a slave. This was all too real. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip hard until it bled.
This couldn't possibly be real, could it? he questioned himself for what felt like the thousandth time.
"What's wrong with this one?" Naruto opened his eyes and jumped with a yell. He was suddenly nose to nose with a sharp eyed woman. She was bent over, looking at his every detail, "Good color, energy, it fight you? Why is it bound so tight?" The woman leaned back and looked to the frog and toad with her hands on her hips. She had sandy blond hair in four spiky pigtails and donned a beautiful, knee length kimono with furisode sleeves that flowed like water off her arms. She had a no nonsense aura.
"Well yes, a bit, Lady Temari; but it's a real live human! Found it in the forest!"
Temari's eyes widened a fraction and the toad picked up, "And we will throw in the Tag free of charge. You do know how hard these are to come by." It said, hinting at a price.
Temari looked Naruto over again. He grimaced and leaned away at being so closely scrutanized by the woman. "I'll take him," She reached into her sleeve, "It's a he right?" She pulled out a hefty pouch.
"We could check for you Lady Temar-"
"I'M A HE I'M A HE" Naruto shouted in a panic.
Temari snorted, "Alright, easy," She looked to the amphibians again, "The Tag?" She held out the pouch and received something black and shiny. The other slaves and their owners left, none too happy.
Temari whipped her hand, a golden fan opening out of nowhere with metal sound flaring from it. She swiped it horizontally and Naruto's arms were free with a gust of wind, the bonds practicaly ripped into confetti. He examined his hands and arms, there wasn't a single scratch on them. The fan snapped shut but stayed in her hand, with the other, she held out the "Tag". "Place this on your forehead." She tapped the fan on her shoulder, "And don't try anything funny." She reinforced sternly.
He looked away from her eyes hesitantly and looked down at the thing in his hand. It was star shaped, four points with one point being longer than the other two, all a shining black though feeling like stone. Naruto turned it in his hands. In the middle was what looked like an opaque white diamond. He looked back up at temari and she mimed the longer point going vertically, to the middle of his nose. The star would go down the length of his forehead to the middle of the bridge of his nose. the other two points would cross his forehead.
Temari was getting impatient, "Do it or I will." She hissed. Naruto gulped and lifted his hair, placing the star near his skin. it suddenly adheased itself onto him, the stone star contouring to his face. It felt like it was burning into his skin, Naruto keeled over onto the ground. Temari lifted an eyebrow then sighed, "They didn't feed you did they?" she asked
She was met with a loud yell of pain in response as naruto curled into a ball in the dirt, scratching at his skin, trying to detatch it. Just as tears began to fall down his face, Temari knelt down if front of him with what looked like a shrivled flower. He didn't know what to do, tears streaming down his face. He winced and shoved his face into the dirt with another yell. Temari ripped his face to her eye line by his hair and shoved the flower into his mouth, covering it and roughly keeping hold onto his hair, "Eat it."
Naruto almost literally choked it down. It was a bit like the texture of dried fruit or a gummy and tasted like tea. The pain ebbed away slowly though it didn't help that temari dropped his head like a rock and he was lying there panting for a bit.
"Better?" Temari held her hands on her hips again and looked at him expectantly. He nodded. It took him a second but he took a deep breath and sat up. Naruto was suddenly reminded that this is how it started, right before he was quickly kidnapped. He looked down, shadowing his eyes. Tears dripped onto the ground and Temari sighed and crouched to his level. He kept his eyes trained on the ground, "Look," She said softly, "I know Suna has a bad rep but it's not that bad, we're good people." She tilted her head to meet his eyes and gave him a small smile, "Come on little human, what's your name?" He looked up at her and noticed a small golden fan on the skin of her forehead.
"Naruto."
