ONE MONTH LATER

Yuki huffed for breath and fell to the ground, coughing. Things had been rather difficult the past month. Relearning to walk. Relearning how to use chopsticks, throw shuriken. Everything. Her body was a mess, due to the single battle she had had with Orochimaru. She hadn't fully recovered and even now she wondered what had gotten her out alive. She pushed herself up, and turned at the sound of someone approaching her.

"Hey, Naruto," she said, in a small voice. They had grown close over the passing weeks, and she found herself hanging out with him, when he wasn't occupied with training or missions. It was a surprise he was visiting her on today, since he had told her last week that he'd be training with Ero-sennin.

"Ero-sennin told me to go get prepared and I thought-" his voice trailed off slowly, and Yuki looked at him concerned.

"Naruto? Hey...you ok?" she limped forward until they were eye to eye, when his hand closed around her wrist and yanked it down. She could tell immediately that something wasn't right. It squeezed hard and she let out a small yelp in pain, as he looked into her face.

WHAT IS GOING ON?

Two red eyes peered into her own and a small growl escaped her friend's lips, which sent a shiver down her spine. She tried to pry it off, but a fist to her gut, forced the air out of her chest and she fell to the ground.

"I'm gonna kill you!" a voice not of his own stated. It was feminine and the malice behind it caused her to be paralyzed in fear. She pulled away frantically. She wanted to be anywhere but in front of her friend and she started to cry. And just like that he let go. Yuki stared at his eyes. Blue. Ice blue like they always were. He was looking around, a dazed look on his face.

Was it a dream?

She glanced at her friend, and then at her wrist.

No...definitely not a dream.

She noticed the burns on her wrist and also the claw shaped marking of it and quickly hid her arm, from Naruto's face.

"What happened? One moment I saw you, and the next I blacked out," he said concerned.

"N-nothing," she replied shaken. Whatever had happened, it was over for now.

"Anyways, you have time to go get prepared and you thought you'd come check in on me," she said with a smile. She could ignore what had happened for now until she found out exactly what was going on.

"Well...yeah," he replied with his trademark grin.

"I've been better. I'm having trouble walking and coordinating things, but I should be back on my feet in a month. I've already learned how to walk, and I'm overall capable of taking care of myself."

"That's great!" he replied, laughing.

"Yeah," she said, looking away. It was good, but he didn't see the struggle to relearn that she had to deal with. It would be about three months before she could return to missions. For now, she could work on satisfying a certain curiousity. She picked up the scroll and rerolled it quickly returning it to her ninja tool pouch.

"Well, good luck, Naruto-kun! See you when you get back," she said with a smile.

"Yeah. Happy birthday, Yuki-chan!" he said, as he raced across the field towards his house.

Whatever happened, I know it's gonna happen again. Hopefully it doesn't fulfill it's threat.

Yuki glanced down at the mark, wondering what the hell did that to her...