AN: Very nice turnout for the chapter, so let's keep going.

2: Distant Memories

The mood within the Hyuga clan was very somber as Hiashi relayed the Shogun's decision to his father and council members. It had been five days since they had left the capital, and he had yet to tell Hinata about her fate. He couldn't bring himself to do it. Ever since leaving the capital she seemed to be in a better mood than she had in a long while, given his father's constant hounding of the poor girl, and him being able to do very little in her defense.

"This is...quite a turn of events, is it not, Hiashi?" Hiten, his father, said, "I had always teased the girl with threats of the Demon Lords, but to think something like this would actually come about..."

Hiashi pinned the man with a glare, "Don't pretend that you actually care about my daughter, Father," he sneered at the man, drawing a look of anger from the man, "The only upside to this entire situation is that she will be well away from you, and your constant hounding of her actions!"

One of the other elders nodded, "Indeed, perhaps this is a fortuitous event," he said, frowning, "Hinata has, indeed, inherited her mother's heart, but nothing of your will, Hiashi. She is...unsuitable to replace you."

"I don't give a damn about the line of succession at this point," Hiashi snapped, "My brother was more fit to lead this clan than I am, and his son would have been a fine heir, but he had the horrendous luck of being born one minute later than I." He frowned, "And now, not only have I lost my brother, and my wife, but now I'm to lose my daughter as well!"

"Fate has decided that this be the course of her future," Hiten said soothingly, "Besides, I'm certain that none of the rumors of the Lord of Nine are true. She will make an excellent bride."

Hiashi stiffened at the mention of the rumors surrounding the Demon Lord of Whirlpool Castle. Though he didn't believe them himself, they were rather haunting. Had he not known the boy's parentage, and the fact that he wasn't overly superstitious as many tended to be when concerning the Nine Lords, he would have been greatly worried.

"Of course, she will have to be sealed so that - " Hiten continued, but was stopped as Hiashi whirled on him, his hand clutched at the man's throat, gasping for breath as his son held him a foot from the ground. "H-Hiashi, what -?!"

Hiashi glared at the man so intensely that his Byakugan glowed, "If you touch her," he growled, bringing the man back down to his eye-level, "If you so much as go near her with the brand, then so help me I'll place it on you myself, and make you wish for death!"

He thrust the man away from him, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor of the council room. The rest of the council looked thoroughly shocked at their leader's behavior, but none raised a fuss about if given that he was, without a doubt, the strongest of the Main family. They wouldn't stand a chance against him as livid as he was now. "Now, you'll have to excuse me," the man said, calmly dusting off his robes, "I must see to my daughters. After all...Hinata and Hanabi deserve to know before I am forced to let her go."

(*)

Oblivious to what was to befall her, Hinata herself felt that she could finally relax after returning home. Her encounter with the Demon Lord had rattled her somehow. Not in the sense that she was frightened of the man, no. More like she was fascinated by him. As much as she tried to forget, he was on her mind constantly for the entire journey home, even haunting her dreams at times.

She also had so many questions she wanted to ask him; such as why he, a Demon Lord, far more powerful than most normal humans, shinobi or samurai, followed such strict, and restraining laws against his kind. And why he hadn't spoken up if he was innocent of the crimes he was accused of.

The girl laid out on her bed, her mind drifting to those strange eyes of his. At one moment, she had seen so much hate in them that she felt if he turned those eyes on her at that moment she'd have suffocated on the spot. And then, only a few hours after the whipping, she had met with him by chance, and saw that those eyes were filled with mirth and sadness.

"I'm used to the cruelty of humans."

She rolled onto her side, sighing softly, "Does he really thing all humans are cruel?" She wondered to herself, remembering the trail of blood he'd left in his wake, 'Didn't they treat his wounds like they were ordered?'

"Hinata," her father's voice reached her ears through the door, "May I come in?"

"Yes," she said, sitting up on her bed. The door opened, revealing both her father, and little sister, "Hanabi?"

Hiashi smiled at the girl, and nudged Hanabi toward her, "Go sit with your sister, Hanabi," he said gently, to which his young complied easily, bouncing toward the bed and nestling against her sister. "I'm sorry to bother you so soon after we've returned, but something has come up since we've left the capital."

Hanabi looked at her sister, then at her father, "Did we do something wrong by leaving the area when Hinata got sick?"

"No, no, neither of you did anything wrong," the man said, sighing, "It has something to do with your future, Hinata, and I thought it best to inform both of you since you two are so close."

Hinata grimaced, "P-please tell me that the Shogun didn't ask for me as a wife?" She and Hanabi both made a face of disgust, making their father chuckle, "I don't think I could handle being married to a man twice your age, Father."

"Hey, now, I'm not quite that old, young lady," Hiashi admonished her lightly, giving her a mock scowl.

Hanabi took the chance and swooped in, "Then you should hurry up and find us a new mom!" She grinned cheekily, "If you don't you'll go all grey like grandpa, and no woman wants an old - "

"Hanabi!" Hiashi shouted, much to his daughters' amusement as the two girls broke into fits of laughter. The man knew he'd just been baited, and quite easily, he might add, but that didn't matter to him anymore. He smiled at the pair in defeat, "You two are going to send me to an early grave long before I find a second wife, you know that, don't you?"

"We'd never," Hinata giggled, looking at her sister, "Maybe Grandpa, though?

"Hey, I'm working on it." Hanabi grinned back.

Hiashi rolled his eyes at the girls, and moved to sit next to his eldest, bringing his arms around both of them, "I don't know what I'd have done without you two in my life as it is," he smiled at them, looking at Hinata, and the smile immediately dropped, "But Hinata, the Shogun may not have asked for your hand as his wife, but he did see fit to give to someone else."

"What?!" Hanabi screeched, her good mood forgotten immediately. "You're joking!? How could he do that?!"

Hiashi bit his lip in silence as he regarded his elder daughter, who sat rigid as a stone upon hearing the news. Looking down at her lap, he saw that her hands, so small for even a sixteen year old girl, were trembling in her lap.

"He is our Lord," Hiashi said, answering Hanabi's question, "I couldn't say no to him for fear of him taking her by force. He is a good man, but...he is not someone that you can simply say 'no' to."

Gulping back bile the girl looked at her father, "Who?"

Hiashi released them, letting his arms rest on his knees, "If it were a samurai, or even a noble from the Land of Iron, I might have been happy for you, Hinata, because it would mean you would be treated as you deserve, finally, but...as it stands, you'll at least avoid the Caged Bird Seal being cast on you."

"You didn't answer her question," Hanabi pointed out, trembling a bit herself now that she had heard that Hinata wasn't to wed a samurai. "If he's not a samurai, then who is he?"

Taking a deep breath, Hiashi looked at his two daughters and sighed, "As he was falsely accused, Lord Mifune thought that compensation was due for the Lord of Nine, and his retainer suggested a woman - "

Hanabi lept to her feet, furious with what she heard, "You can't be serious!" She shouted angrily, stamping her feet, "You...he's asked her to marry a Demon Lord!?"

"He has," Hiashi sighed, sharing his youngest's outrage. "Between the Hyuga and the Uchiha, ours is the only clan with a young woman of notable value - "

"She's not a piece of fine art!" Hanabi snapped, "She's got the same value as any other woman around here!"

"I know that, Hanabi, but she is technically nobility in this village, as such, she is..."

While the two argued, Hinata was going over what had been said. 'The Demon Lord?' She thought to herself, 'I'm...I'm to be his wife?' It wasn't as though the thought was unappealing, far from it. The man, although a bit strange, seemed to be kind in some regards. And her curiosity was by far getting the better of her common sense at the moment. If she had been listening to herself, part of her would be jumping at the chance to know more about the...being that had haunted her dreams, while the other was urging her to find the deepest, darkest pit and through herself over the edge.

Arranged marriage had been the one thing she feared almost as much as having the Caged Bird Seal placed on her since it was made known that the elders preferred her little sister over herself as the heir to the family. She'd been told horrible stories about how some women were nothing more than broodmares to their husbands, all the while the man would be bedding other women. She certainly didn't want that for herself.

Certainly there had been a boy back during her childhood that she still held a small flame for, but she hadn't seen him for ten years. And even if she did happen to fancy someone, they would have to be of some renown to impress her clan enough to allow a marriage if she chose to marry for love. An option that was now off the table. Still, this was certainly more favorable than being married off to some fat, smell lord to fill the clan's pockets.

"When am I to meet him?" Hinata asked, halting the argument, during which Hanabi had somehow grabbed her father's mouth and stretched it out almost impossibly while he tried to fend her off. "When did that happen?"

"Er," Hiashi mumbled, his daughter releasing him, "It would be best if we set out soon. Wave Country is a day's journey from here by conventional means. We'll go by carriage, and take as much time as we can without seeming rude to the shogun's wishes."

Hinata nodded, smiling at her father, "Give me some time to pack, and we can leave whenever you're ready." She said.

Hanabi stared at her incredulously, "You...can't be serious...you're actually okay with this?"

Hinata shrugged, "Not really, no," she shook her head, smiling at her little sister, "but if I don't do this, then the Shogun may do something to our family, and I -"

"SCREW OUR FAMILY!" Hanabi screeched loudly, her voice echoing down the halls, stunning both her sister and father, "They've had it out for you ever since I was born, and now they've got a shot at getting rid of you! And you're worried about them?!"

"Of course," Hinata smiled at her, "Hanabi, I may not always like the majority of my family, but I can, and always will love them because they are family, even if they don't act like it."

(*)

The once proud Land of Whirling Tides, a large island cut off from the mainland, was now nothing more than a plundered rune of a former shinobi province. What little remained of the former village was nothing more than crumbled buildings, craters fill with debris from battles long since passed, and one, solitary building that had withstood the ravages of war and time.

Whirlpool Castle had been the home of the land's Daimyo, but now it served as home, and prison, to the Ninth Demon Lord, Naruto Uzumaki. The large shinto castle was in fine shape after long hours of repair had been made, and was a symbol to those that saw it of a time when a single nation stood against three invading forces, and managed to devastate well over half of their numbers before falling to the combined efforts of the Cloud, Rock and Sand villages.

One of its soul occupants now sat down on one of the many sandy beaches that surrounded the island, a small gourd in hand filled with wine. The young man had been watching the sunset as it sank below the waves of the ocean.

As he relaxed in the waning light, heavy footsteps gave away the presence behind him as a small creature took up the spot next to him. "So," the creature said, "How are you feeling after that little farce?"

Narut shrugged, taking a drink from his gourd, "Could've been worse," he said, the alcohol taking away the pain in his back. "At least they didn't try to kill me. That would've sucked."

The creature, a small red fox with nine fluffy tails, sighed and laid down on the sand, "I really don't understand you, Naruto," he said, frowning, "Why do you even bow your head to these laws? You could easily overpower a lot of shinobi, and samurai would be no problem at all considering they only use chakra to enhance their swords."

Naruto chuckled, "Now where's that gonna get me?" He asked, "Look what it did for Yagura. He's dead now, and Isobu is liable to pop back up any day, now, and guess who's gonna have to seal him away again?"

The fox huffed, "Just say no?" He suggested, "It's not like they can do anything to harm you."

Naruto smiled at that. He was right. Even the whip lashes on his back were little more than small wounds now after five days of receiving them. Soon they would be nothing but scars. "It's not me I'm worried about, Kurama," he said to the little animal, "Believe it or not, I'm more worried about what the Shogun would do to my old village if I pushed things too far." He said, and took another drink before passing it to the fox, who took it between his paws and drank, "I know I was chased out of their by the normal people, but there are still people back there I care about. You've met them before, haven't you?"

Kurama gave a small belch, "You know I didn't go outside all that much while we stayed in the village," he said, sighing, "If people saw me, even like this with most of my power sealed inside of you, I'd still cause a panic. Small or not, I'm still the Nine Tailed Fox, you know?"

"You're nothing like the legends make you out to be," he pointed out as he took the gourd back. "Honestly, if I didn't have you, and Grandpa Jiraiya around here, I think I'd go crazy."

Kurama looked up at the young man, "You've got an entire village to look after now, don't you?" He asked, frowning, "Say what you will, but thanks to you, those people now look at you like a god in the form of a human for what you did."

Naruto chuckled, sipping his wine, "All I did was chase out Gato's thugs, and scare the shit out of the guy himself." He said, grinning, "How anyone thinks he's dead is beyond me."

Kurama chuckled, "Oh, haven't you heard the latest rumors about you, kid?" He asked, standing up on his back feet, "It is said that the Lord of Nine devours the souls of all that meet his icy gaze - "

"What am I, a Death God?" Naruto groaned.

"He devours the flesh of virgin women to sate his monstrous appetite!"

"Gross, how'd that one get started?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

"And let's not forget my favorite one," Kurama said dramatically, clearing his throat, "Do not let your daughters wander alone at night for they may meet the cold eyes of the Demon Lord of Whirpool Castle, and made into his concubines!"

Naruto groaned, turning his eyes up to the heavens and fell back on the sands, "Just what I need, more bad publicity!" He groaned, "How does any of that even get started, anyway?"

Kurama chuckled and laid himself out on the sand, snatching up the wine gourd for himself, "Oh, you know?" He said offhandedly, "One person says this, another says that, and then the two get mixed together and you then have the makings of a wild rumor on your hands."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Sounds like me and Jiraiya when we've had way too much wine."

"That, too." Kurama said, and tipped the gourd back.

Naruto chuckled at his friend and looked up to the sky, watching clouds float by. 'With rumors like that, though,' he thought, sighing as night began to set in, 'It's no wonder I was chased out of the village.'

Really, aside from the fact that he had a bond with the Nine Tails because of his chakra being sealed inside of him, which gave him a few extra abilities, he was no different than any other sixteen year old teenager...well, there were the whisker-like marks on his face...and the fact that he had supernaturally strong muscles...and was incredibly fast...alright, so he wasn't exactly like a normal teenage, but you could hardly see the difference between him and a normal human.

'No,' he thought, thinking back on the day before he was chased out of the village, 'Humans can be a lot more cruel than any of the Demon Lords.' His thoughts went to a little girl crying because a trio of boys were making fun of her. And then a clumsy blond boy entered the scene, only to get beaten up himself, and his favorite scarf torn to pieces. 'Wonder what happened to her?' He sighed, closing his eyes.

It was after that incident that he was deemed too dangerous to keep in the village, and was to be escorted to Whirlpool Castle. But that hadn't gone as the Hokage had planned. The three boys that had harassed the little girl he defended had gotten the civilians worked up over his attempted rescue of the girl, and they all but bodily threw him out of the village.

It was lucky for him that Jiraiya had been on hand, or else he might not have come out of it unscathed. Now, ten years later, the young blond was, somewhat, at peace with his lot in life.

He sat back up, looking back behind him at the island, 'I have my ancestral home,' he looked toward the smaller island toward the West, 'I've got my family's old lands back. So now I also have a people to call my own...and they're not afraid of me...not much anyway.'

Kurama looked at the boy, "Thinking about that girl again?"

The blond shrugged, "Kind of," he said, smiling, "Just wondering what happened to her after all this time is all."

Kurama shrugged himself, "As pretty as you said she was, she probably married young, and into wealth." He said, passing him back the gourd, "Girl's like that don't usually stay single for long once they reach the right age, you know?"

Naruto didn't answer, merely taking a long drink from the gourd, draining it.

(*)

Hinata sighed as she packed her things for the journey away from her home. She looked around her room, the walls and shelves bare of her belongings, all of them sealed into a medium sized storage scroll. All that really remained was...

She knelt at the edge of her bed, reached under it to pull out a small wooden box. Smiling tenderly, she sat on the edge of her bed, and opened it, revealing a small piece of red cloth. Taking the piece between her fingers, she held it against her cheek, sighing. "After all this time, it still hasn't lost its warmth." She mumbled. "I wonder what happened to him, that boy."

"Hinata?" Hanabi peeked into her room shyly. "Father says everything's ready for us to go." She said, padding into the room and sitting on the bed with her, "What's that you've got?"

Hinata smiled at her, "Just a keepsake," she smiled, placing the cloth back into the box, "It helps me remember someone I cared for a long time ago."

Hanabi looked at her in surprise, "You mean you had a boyfriend?"

Hinata giggled, "No, silly, we were only six at the time, or I was at least," she said, smiling, "I don't really know how old he was, but I think we were around the same age."

Hanabi hummed in thought as Hinata stored the box away in her scroll, "So...what happened to him?"

"I don't know, really," Hinata sighed sadly, "I never saw him again after he gave that to me." She looked down at her sister, "It's silly to keep hold of it anymore, I suppose. I can't even remember his face anymore."

Her sister shook her head, "I don't think it's silly at all," the girl said, "If he was special, then you should at least be able to remember him with that cloth, even if you can't remember what he looked like."

"The Demon Lord might not like the fact that I have something from another man," she pointed out, "Though, I guess it wouldn't matter. He seemed like a kind man when I - "

"You spoke with him?" Hanabi asked, shocked. "When was this?"

"Back in the capital," the older girl said, "It was just after you left to take your bath while I took my time coming back."

Hanabi looked at her in amazement, then groaned, thoroughly frazzled. "Ugh, I've got to stop leaving you alone when we go out," the girl groaned, "All you ever do is get yourself into trouble!"

Hinata smiled at her and pulled her into a tight hug which the girl returned. "I'm sorry, Hanabi," she said as the little girl's shoulders began to shake with silent sobs, "But I don't think we'll have the chance to go anywhere together for a long time."

Hanabi nodded tearfully, "This sucks."

Her hold tightened around the younger girl, "We've still got a day or so as we travel," she said, petting her sister's hair, "We should make the most of it."

AN: Two trolls for the first chapter, huh? Too bad I don't care enough to mention your names, but let's make one thing clear to one of you. In the anime the Daimyo are nothing but glorified samurai that govern their respective nations. And yet we have characters like the Kage bowing to them. I never said that the samurai were a match for a Jinchuuriki, or a Tailed-Beast. I'm not that unrealistic. That being said, Mifune in the story is a strong samurai, along with a crossover character, Kenshin Himura, and Ichigo Kurosaki.

Well, enough of my rants.

If you liked the chapter, feel free to leave a review. If not, sayonara!