Hey so I'm back for a while with a new story! This one is a little different from my other ones, but I think it'll still be fun. I'm not sure when I'll actually be able to finish this one, but I will most likely finish it like I did with Eventually an End.

Anyway, I've had this idea for quite some time, but I never got around to writing it until now. Our leading lady, Nayamae (pronounced like Nay-om-ay), I've had as a character for years, but never actually put her into a story her on fanfiction.

Well, without further ado, enjoy!

4 Years after the Nine Tails Attack, 15 years of age.

Nayamae sat on the curb counting out the wad of money in her hand. "Dammit," she muttered, counting it a second time. "Those guys never give me enough." She shook her head and shoved the money in a hidden pocket of her sleeve.

She sat silently, watching the few people who inhabited the slum area, and thinking of the last weapons deal she made. She had never exactly been smart with numbers, nor did she know how to read very well, but she knew she had been chipped out on quite a bit of money for the weapons she stole. Although, it was to her benefit that she didn't argue any further.

Nayamae considered all of the food options she had available to her with the amount of money she now had, which honestly wasn't much, but it was something to fill her growling stomach. What she really wanted was a cup of coffee: black, hot, and delicious. The tempting waft from the nearby coffee stand stung her like a punch to her empty gut. She got out the money in her pocket again, counting it and dividing up the bills for the right amount for the smallest cup possible. The rest of her money would be going to finding her a place to sleep for a few nights and what little food she could afford. As infrequent as these deals were, she tried to make the money stretch as long as possible.

After buying her coffee, Nayamae returned to her seat on the curb, savoring the dark taste of the scalding liquid. She moved her long, raven-black hair over her shoulder, covering her left side from the cold morning breeze. She closed her brown eyes as she enjoyed the coffee's taste and the warmth it was building in her hands.

"I don't want to interrupt your morning thoughts," a man's voice said behind her, "but you are looking a little lost."

Nayamae turned around to look at the man standing behind her. His skin was paper-white and his eyes held a mischievous snake-like appearance. He was dressed like a Leaf Shinobi, but she almost instantly deemed him untrustworthy. A venomous grin widened on his face as she regarded him.

"If you're looking for 'special company,'" she told him, turning back to her nearly empty coffee cup, "you're looking in the wrong place."

He shook his head and went to stand in front of her. "No, you misunderstand me," he said, blocking her view of the people she had been watching. He continued to smile wickedly. "I don't want any 'special company.' I'm looking for a certain kitsune. I hear she has near immeasurable skill with secrecy and thievery. I'm looking to hire her."

Nayamae looked at the strange man for a moment then scoffed, causing his smile to falter. "I don't know where you heard immeasurable skill, but if it's what people say, then I suppose it's true."

"Then you are her?" he asked, looking at her questioningly.

"Do you need proof?" she countered, setting her empty cup on the curb beside her.

He smiled again, sending chills down Nayamae's spine. "I have no need of that."

She eyed him suspiciously. "What do you want?"

"I could use you for something extremely important. Come," he waved, turning to walk away. "We can talk it over breakfast." He looked back at her. "You are hungry, aren't you?"

As though on cue, Nayamae's stomach growled loudly. The offer of free breakfast and a job sounded extremely good to her. She had no idea who this man was, nor did he ask who she was. Though, it seemed to her he knew who and what she was, making her feel unsure about trusting him in any way. Her stomach growled loudly again, prompting her to jump up and follow the man down the road. She had decided to trust him for now.

Orochimaru frowned at his newest test subject as she writhed on his experimenting table. "Oh, come now," he said with an annoyed sigh. "It shouldn't hurt that much."

Nayamae swallowed a cry rising from her throat and clenched her fists tightly, her wrists pulled against the restraints holding her down. Wherever he had made black seals on her skin, it had begun to burn. He had told her the seals were to help her accomplish the mission he had planned out for her; however, she suspected it was more than just enhancements to her abilities.

She had hardly been working for Orochimaru for a week when he began to use her as an experiment. She knew he was testing her abilities as a kitsune, and she despised him for it. However, it was too late to go back to her old, unsteady job now that she had worked for him for several months. The only benefits she regarded was a permanent place to stay and any money she received for completing assignments she was allowed to keep, allowing her to buy her own food. To her, this burning pain on her skin (compared to Orochimaru's other experiments) was only a small price to pay for the luxuries she now got to enjoy.

Finally (much to Nayamae's relief), Orochimaru released the seals from her skin so she relaxed her fists. He turned away from her to write something on a sheet of paper. "I need you to go and get these scrolls for me," he started, turning the paper around to show her what he had written. "Find the ones with these symbols on it."

Nayamae furrowed her brow, studying the symbols and trying to figure out what they meant. She hated it when he made her do something that required reading. He knew she barely could, but she had no choice but to go do what he wanted.

The archive library was quiet. Nayamae wasn't surprised by the lack of security this hour of the day in Konoha. With such fair weather, most people were at lunch or having an early afternoon nap. However, she didn't find sneaking into this building to be incredibly difficult in the first place. She figured with the information these scrolls must hold the security would be tighter, but the lack of security made her uneasy. Nobody had even spotted her on the roofs.

Before jumping down from the open window in the ceiling, she tied her hair into a long braid, pushing it behind her and out of her way. Her feet hardly made a sound when they hit the floor between the over-filled shelves. She reached into the satchel hanging from her shoulder and pulled out the now crumpled paper Orochimaru had given her. Smoothing it against the floor, she stared at the writing, etching it into her memory. She looked around her at the many shelves of scrolls in the large room, sighing heavily with the enormous task she now faced.

After what felt like an hour, Nayamae finally found the first scroll and shoved it triumphantly into her satchel. Since she had been staring at these symbols for quite some time, she began to recognize a few, making a little sense in their organization. The next few she found were a little easier to find since they were roughly in the same area. She had one final scroll to find when she heard a door nearby creak open and loud voices following. She cursed herself for not sensing anyone earlier.

Scrambling to hide behind a shadowed shelf, she prayed she would be able to avoid the two people she heard coming towards her hiding spot. She glanced up at the window she had left open in the ceiling, wondering how she would get through it without them noticing.

"I'm telling ya, ya never listen to my advice when ya want me to give it, so I don't understand why I continue to bother," the first male said.

"Yeah, but maybe if you actually said something worthwhile, I would listen!" said the other male. They both laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just get those couple of scrolls and get back to work. The captain needs them for some research he's doing." The two men had stopped one aisle away from her hiding spot. She glanced up at the open window again, willing herself to take the chance to escape.

"Hey!" exclaimed the first man. Nayamae's heart jumped. "These aren't suppose to be missing! Nobody else has access to this place but us!" By that point, she knew it was too late to escape undetected. Quickly, she jumped up the shelves, using each shelf like rungs on a ladder to get towards the ceiling window.

"HEY! YOU! STOP!" ordered the second man, but he was too late.

Nayamae almost smiled as she escaped through the window and onto the roof. She heard shouts and raised alarms as she ran over people's roofs towards the outer rim of the village. She almost enjoyed the thrill of the chase, knowing that she wouldn't be caught. But she didn't understand what it was she exactly stole. Obviously these scrolls were important, maybe even dangerous, but if they were so important, why were they so damn easy to take?

She had made it outside of the village when she finally sensed people following behind her. She didn't expect anymore than six to pursue her, but she was surprised to sense closer to twelve individuals. Are these scrolls really that important? She wondered.

She knew the terrain outside of the village well, running swiftly on the tree branches. She had grown up running from the law so this chase was also nothing new to her. She even knew how and where to hide. Nayamae sensed only one individual had gotten any closer to her. Whoever they were, they were coming up fast, leaving everyone else behind to catch up. She jumped down to the ground, dodging the trees as she ran.

As she jumped to the ground, she heard the faint sound of a kunai cutting through the air and hitting a tree trunk above her. She felt her hair fall out of her braid as she continued to run. Whoever had thrown the small blade was now extremely close and accurate enough to cut the ends of her hair. She had no time to find a place to hide.

"STOP!" a man's voice shouted sharply behind her. She dared not to look back at him. She remembered some close calls for getting caught by the law, but never had they been this close. "I order you to stop!"

Suddenly, the man tackled her to the ground, both of them rolling across the grass after impact. She tried to scramble away, but he was quicker, grabbing her by the ankle and pulling her towards him. She tried kicking at him, but he was still stronger than her. He held her down on her back, holding her wrists above her head while sitting on her middle. She was terrified to see an animal mask staring back at her. Never in her life had she ever been caught. She had always taken the ANBU of Konoha to be untalented police dogs, yet here she was, looking into the feared eyes of a sharingan user. As quickly as she had recognized the sharingan, she had noticed he only had the sharingan in his left eye. In her moment of shock, she slowly became conscious of the position she was in and his eyes staring down at her.

As though realizing what he was doing, he shook his head and flipped her over to tie her hands behind her back. He pulled her up to her knees as his comrades appeared around them.

"Great work!" declared one of the other pursuers.

Through the hair that had fallen in front of her face, Nayame could see all of them were wearing similar animal masks. She couldn't tell who it was that had spoken. She felt someone take her satchel from around her shoulder and heard them going through it.

"All of the stolen scrolls are here," said another voice.

"Excellent. Let's get her back to the village." They forced her to her feet and pushed her forward, prompting her to walk.

As they made the silent trek back to Konoha, Nayamae wondered what was going to happen now. She feared the sharingan user that held onto her upper arm, making sure she wasn't going to escape. It wasn't fair of the ANBU to use someone with an eye such as his, she thought bitterly to herself. He had also purposely cut her beautiful black hair a few inches shorter. She had used her favorite (and last) ribbon to tie the braid too. In that moment she felt very ugly.

Nayamae also feared what Orochimaru would do when he discovered she had been arrested. He had trusted her to this mission and she had failed horribly. The thought made a shiver of terror run across her skin, penetrating deep into her bones. What about the seals he had done on her skin? Wasn't that supposed to help her? What were they for? It was too late for her to find out now that she could see the village gates. No matter what torture she could go through from the village, it certainly was no match for what Orochimaru would do to her when she returned to him.

Soon Nayame found herself sitting cuffed to a chair in front of a table. She had been told of interrogation rooms like this with the "good cop" and the "bad cop" routine. Whatever that meant. She looked around the mostly empty room, staring across at her reflection in the one-way glass. She tried to sense whether or not someone was watching her through the glass, but felt a pressure surrounding her instead.

"Don't bother trying to use any jutsus while you're in here," an older man stated tiredly as he suddenly walked through the door and sat in the chair across the table from her. "Those cuffs on your hands make sure they won't work." He leaned back in the chair, looking Nayamae over. The man with the single sharingan had followed behind the first man. He stood silently against the wall with his arms crossed, watching her intently through the animal mask. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, turning her gaze to the table.

The man across from her cleared his throat. "My name is Miro," he said, fingering at a folder in his hands. Nayamae stayed silent. "From some of the intel we've gathered on you, it says here," he said, opening the folder to the front page, "you've got quite the story. Or legend I should say. You're a kitsune. Part fox, part woman. Straight out of folklore." He sat up straight. "But that's not our focus today, is it?" Miro smiled, putting wrinkles on his face and revealing a set of crooked teeth. She felt his gaze even though she wasn't looking at him, her eyes fixed onto the table top. His smile quickly disappeared. "Why'd you do it? Why did you steal those scrolls?"

Nayamae kept her mouth shut, shaking with fear. She wasn't afraid of what Miro or the sharingan user could do to her, she was more terrified of what Orochimaru would do if she said anything. Miro continued to berate her with questions. "Who do you work for? What were the scrolls for? How did you find out about them? How did you manage to get them undetected?" She wished he would just shut up. What excuse could she give to justify her theft?

Finally, Miro leaned back in his chair, apparently done with this first barrage of questions. He pulled out a piece of paper from the folder, pushing it in front of her so she could see it. "There, if you want to read your charges from today, go ahead."

Nayamae glared at the paper and then up at him. "I have no interest in answering any of your questions," she growled, spitting at him.

Miro wiped his face, meeting her glare. "You have no idea how much trouble you're in, do you? Do you not realize what you tried to steal? What information you could have leaked to an enemy of our village?" His voice rose with each question.

"I have no Leaf headband. I am loyal to no village, much less yours," she declared distastefully. Nayamae felt her blood rising, her wrists straining against the metal of the cuffs.

The sharingan user took a defensive stance as the cuffs themselves broke. "Miro, leave now!" he ordered, raising his mask to reveal his eye. The older man stood from his chair but was thrown against the wall with the table Nayamae had flipped over. The younger held her hands away from his face as she jumped at him. He noticed her nails were longer and sharper than they were a few minutes ago, but it was her eyes that surprised him the most. Instead of their normal brown, they had turned red. He was struggling against her strength; this small woman was pushing him across the floor. Where had this sudden strength come from?

The man hadn't wanted to use his eye to restrain her, but it seemed as though he had no other choice. A quick look in her eyes with the sharingan and she immediately went slack, falling into his arms.

"Ow…" Miro said, sitting up from behind the broken table. "What the hell just happened? Are you alright, Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded, carefully laying Nayamae on the floor. "I have no idea what that was. She didn't fight that much when we arrested her." He looked over at the other man. "Your cheek is bleeding," he commented.

Miro touched a hand to his cheek. "Oh. Thanks."