AN: Hey guys! It's been a long time since I last updated this story. Two years to be exact. When I first started back in freshman year I had so many possibilities for this story. I didn't have it all planned out then and I don't have it now. I came to have writers block and my nervousness at letting strangers read my steered me away from posting updates. Oh and the fact that I'm also extremely lazy at times. I'm back to posting because I just got an email last night one of my readers followed my story and that made me very happy. So here is the next chapter.
Kenshin sighed, knowing full well she was right. And he still didn't know what to do. Funny how cruel life can be sometimes. Kenshin and Kaoru took up the front and Naruto and Natarii hung back.
'So Kenshin is going to fight that guy huh?' Naruto mentally asked.
'Yep. Minato is likely to fight Zabuza, leaving Haku to me and you.' The redhead replied.
The blonde smiled at the prospect of fighting and Natarii just sighed at his antics. The group eventually made it back to the dojo where they were welcomed with the smells of food and came across the sight of Sanosuke and Yahiko dishing up dinner. Naruto and Natarii sat down next to Minato, unfazed by the two preparing dinner. Kenshin soon followed suit, chatting up Minato. They all waited for Kaoru who made her way over to the food and studied it intently.
"Did you and Sanosuke make all this, Yahiko?" She asked. Yahiko and Sanosuke looked at each other, unsure of what to say.
"Minato helped them make the food, but was willing to let them take all the credit," Natarii spoke before either of them could answer. Normally, Kaoru would have given them a nice scolding but right at the moment she just pulled the three of them into a giant hug. Yahiko, Sanosuke, and Minato were confused but pushed it aside as they hugged her back. The four soon pulled away and the entire group sat down to eat.
"What was the deal there Kaoru?" Sanosuke asked muffled by the food stuffed into his mouth. As Kaoru was trying to figure out to properly explain the chain of events that had previously followed, Kenshin saved her and informed the three of what had transpired. After learning what had happened, all three of them were furious. Even Minato had his quiet fury about him. Naruto was struggling to contain his newfound fury. It was as if his anger was feeding off the others. The two sets of whisker marks adorning his cheeks darkened into more animalistic markings, his eyes slowly were turning red, his hair began to ruffle almost like fur, and his fingernails grew and sharpened into claws. Minato, realizing what was happening, grabbed the collar of his brother and Hirashined to a nearby forest. Little did he know that Naruto had instinctively grabbed what was nearest to him. This just so happened to be Natarii. Minato landed softly on the grass while Naruto landed with a thump and Natarii landed on top of him. His appearance had practically returned to normal, puzzling Minato, and the two laid there unmoving except for the occasion blink. Naruto and Natarii were mentally elsewhere, in the depths of Naruto's mind.
Naruto woke up inside the all too familiar sewer, but something was different. That was when he realized Natarii was there with him. He noticed a bleeding cut on her arm where the fabric of shirt had been torn.
"Rii-chan. Rii-chan wake up!" the blonde prodded her. The redhead slowly opened her eyes to see a pair of familiar blue eyes staring down at her. Natarii let Naruto pull her and then listened to him as they began walking around in the sewer. "This is my mindscape that contains Kurama. We are heading to meet him because he has some explaining to do for pumping his chakra through me without warning me. Also, Kurama and I have been trying to figure out how to use his chakra without endangering my life in the long-run," he explained. Natarii nodded along in understanding as they rounded a corner to come face to face with Kurama, the nine-tailed demon fox. The fox was lying on his stomach, eyes closed with his head on his giant paws. When the duo made it up to the bars of the cage, Kurama opened one eye. Natarii jumped back in surprise, causing the gox to laugh. His laugh was a deep rumble that vibrated within the duo's bodies. Naruto grinned at Natarii and she blushed.
"Sorry, Kurama-sama," Natarii apologized. Kurama in return flashed her a foxy grin.
"I like this kid, baka," Kurama stated. Naruto chuckled before his features turned serious once more.
"Kurama, why did you pump chakra into me a few moments ago?" he asked. The fox pondered the question for a moment before answering.
"I felt something evil around you and your friends so I gave you my chakra for protection. As soon as you began entering the first tail form, the presence vanished. By that time, Minato recognized what was happening to you and teleporting you away, you taking Natarii for a ride as well," the great fox explained. Naruto nodded in acceptance of the answer, while Natarii had stopped breathing and her eyes were wide.
'Hikari! That presence Kurama-sama felt was him wasn't it?!' the redhead screamed at her feline companion. Hikari nodded, just as frightened as Natarii. Memories flooded the mindscape. All the pain, tears, blood.
"Natarii!" Naruto yelled, shaking her roughly. He noticed the immense fear in her eyes before her breathing had ceased. A few moments of shaking and violet eyes focused on him. She took a deep breath and crashed into the blonde, hugging tightly. Naruto was caught off guard but hugged her back comfortingly. They stayed in the embrace for several minutes, Naruto whispering words in an effort to calm her down. Natarii eventually separated from him, her body still trembling, but calm enough to speak.
"I'm alright now. Thanks Naru," she smiled shakily. Naruto wasn't completely convinced she was okay, but he wasn't going to push her to speak if she didn't want to.
"You look pretty shaken up still, Aka," Kurama boomed above them. Natarii smiled as she looked up into the fox's red eyes.
"I'm really okay, Kurama-sama," Natarii assured. The fox demon knew that the presence he had felt was connected to the redhead but he didn't know who it was or how.
"Well now that we've had our fun, we should probably get back to reality. Nii-san is more than likely beginning to worry," Naruto finally said. The duo said their farewells to Kurama and left Naruto's mindscape. Naruto and Natarii woke up at the same time to find the girl was on the blonde. They both blushed faintly before Natarii got off Naruto and faced Minato, whose expression was of concern.
"Why did it take you guys so long to talk to Kurama?" Minato asked.
"We had some things we needed to discuss. The main thing is, Kurama gave me some of the chakra to protect me from an evil presence he had felt after you guys were informed of what happened at the river. The presence immediately left after I had begun to enter one-tail," Naruto illustrated. Minato approved the explanation and teleported the three of them back to the dojo. As soon as they arrived, everyone surrounded them, worry evident in all their faces. Naruto and Natarii smiled as they tried their best to clarify what happened without revealing Kurama.
"Are you guys hurt?" Kaoru asked. They replied no.
"Why did you grab Natarii like that, Naruto?" Yahiko questioned. Naruto replied that it was instinctive and that he needed to talk to her.
"Did you guys do any fighting?" Sanosuke prodded, eagerness in his expression. The duo again replied no, deflating Sanosuke.
"Why did you leave so suddenly?" Kenshin demanded. Minato pointedly stared into Kenshin's eyes. Kenshin's gaze shifted from him back to Naruto.
"I was very angry with my friends being threatened, so Minato-nii teleported me so I could calm down. I instinctively grabbed Natarii as she was the closest to me and she helped calm me down as well," Naruto passively replied. The group seemed to buy the answer, except Kenshin. Naruto could tell right away that the swordsman didn't accept the answer but Kenshin couldn't find any holes in the response, until he spotted his sister's left arm. The clothing on her arm was ripped and the cut was still bleeding freely, though Natarii herself barely noticed. Kenshin walked over to her and lifted the arm to get a better look.
"What happened to your arm?" he asked, concerned. Natarii looked down at her semi-deep wound.
"I honestly don't know. I probably snagged it on a branch. Didn't think it was that deep of a cut because I barely felt a thing," Natarii lied. The two Himura siblings had a stare down before Kenshin gave in and looked away. Sighing, he shot a deadly glare at Naruto before walking into the house. Said blonde gulped in fright, causing Natarii to giggle. He grabbed her arm and looked at the damage he knew he had caused.
"Did I do that to you?" he asked softly. The redhead couldn't bear to lie to him.
"Yea, but I'm fine really. I meant to heal it earlier, but I forgot," she answered. Naruto wasn't satisfied so proceeded to apologized.
"I'm really sorr-"
"Naruto! Calm down. I can fix my arm," Natarii interrupted. Her right hand began to glow blue-green as she hovered it over the cut. The wound slowly closed up and then faded completely, as if there had never been any injury in the first place. The blonde jincūriki watched in amazement.
"How you do that?" Naruto asked. Natarii thought for a bit before answering.
"I learned medical ninjutsu from Lady Tsunade when she took me in 4 years ago. One of the nicest and strongest people I have ever met. She also taught me how to use her fabled superhuman strength," the redhead explained. Naruto stared at her in wonder and admiration, though the guilt was hidden in his eyes.
"I didn't mean to hurt you, Rii-chan. Honest. It's pretty awesome that Tsunade trained you! Dattebayo!"
Natarii brought Naruto's face down to her level. He began to blush as she fixed her violet gaze on him. "You remember how I said you were cute?" She waited for him to nod. "Well I still think that. I also think you are kind, smart, funny, strong, and so much more. You hurt me on accident. I understand that you feel guilty but you need to understand that I truly felt almost nothing when you cut my arm. I have a high pain tolerance plus I can heal myself. I won't ever hate you or view you as a monster, so please stop feeling so guilty," she ranted to the blonde. After she had finished, Naruto stood up. He lifted her up so that they were face to face and slowly brought his face closer to hers. Natarii softly gasped before his lips lightly touched her own. Instead of fighting him as she had originally intended, the redhead gave in to the kiss. Her arms linked around his back, one hand running through his hair. They shared the intimate moment until their lungs begged the teens for oxygen. They pulled away from each other, faces flushed with huge smiled plastered on their faces and hearts pounding from the excitement.
"Naruto, you can put me down now," Natarri said, realizing he was still holding her.
"Do I have to?" Naruto pouted.
"Yes, it's getting dark out here. We still gotta fight ya know," Natarii chuckled. The prospect of fighting riled Naruto up again. He quickly put her down and went off to find the others. How he could go from sweet and romantic to goofy and hyper was beyond her. Kenshin came out of the dojo, his sword seated on his hip. He was ready for the impending fight. He walked up next to his sister, who was staring up at the stars.
"I saw everything, that I did," Kenshin suddenly spoke. Natarii turned to glare at him accusingly.
"Why are you peeping?" Natarii blushed and pointed her finger at her brother.
"I knew you were covering up something concerning Naruto and that cut. I was angry that you'd lie for him and angry at him for whatever he did. This led to me 'peeping' on your conversation. I immediately noticed how guilty the blonde looked and while I don't know the details of what happened, I guess it isn't too important if you didn't feel like telling anyone. One more thing before I leave. Let him, nee-chan. He has both a pure heart and soul, that he does," Kenshin said as he began to walk away, leaving Natarii shocked by his words. She quickly recovered and rushed after him, hugging him from behind.
"Be careful, Kenshin-nii," the redhead murmured into his back. Kenshin laughed before breaking the embrace to continue walking.
"You be careful too then. Do your best as always, Nat!" He yelled, vanishing behind the trees. Natarii walked back to the dojo where everyone was preparing for the upcoming battles. I will do my best for us all. Don't you worry about that onii-san.
AN: I know, I'm the worst ever. I said I'd give you fights but little ole me didn't realize how much I had written between the river scene and the fights y'all have been waiting for.