Naruto 1. The Hokage

I slowly walked through Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. I kept my head down in the hopes that no one would recognise me. It had been a long time since I visited the village. I felt my bangs covering my eyes, but did nothing to remove them, to clear my sight. I knew where I was going. I had walked this path many times. I walked slowly, as if my feet knew where they were going, and wanted to prevent me from that pain. To someone else, it may look like I had all the time in the world. I guess I did. Through the years I had lost everyone and everything that I cared about. Wether accident or destiny, it doesn't matter. I was alone. And it all started with _you_. I passed an apartment that once belonged to a carefree boy with fair-hair. Rumour has it he was hated by the whole village. The reason? I don't know. But that was a long time ago. I stopped to look at the apartment, now getting old, to take in the sight. I don't know how long I looked at that old apartment, thinking of what pain that boy must have gone through, but it hurt to think how much he would have had to hide it. I started at my slow pace to the carvings of the past Hokage's. I laughed quietly to myself; a lot had changed since I lived here in the Hidden Leaf Village. I stopped and looked up; I had reached my destination. Looking at you, up there engraved into the history of Konoha, I felt my eyes tear up. I don't cry often, it's not in my make-up. But you are one person who can always bring those tears to the surface, bring up old pains that I tried to rid myself of years ago. It all started with _you_. I remember sitting up on top of this rock with you, holding your hand. I was crying then too.

Flashback "Come on, don't die!" I said fiercely 

_He coughed heavily, blood dribbling out the corner of his mouth._

"_Thanks, thanks … for … everything" He managed to speak._

"_Don't thank me yet! I'll get you help! Thank me after that!"_

"_Why do you … think … I asked you to … bring me up here? You know … as well as I do … that I'm not going to … survive this." I didn't know how he could be so calm about this._

"_No!" I shouted, tears starting to leak out of my eyes. I guess I knew that what he was saying was true._

"_Come on, we … had fun … didn't we?" He was starting to close his eyes._

"_NO! Please! Just stay awake! For me!" Tears were freely flowing down my face now; I didn't even try to stop them. _

_He coughed fiercely and I held up his head to subsidise it. _

"_Just … don't forget me... kay?" I silently nodded, my voice having left me._

"_You know, I guess Neiji … was right, some are … born to be Hokage, and … some aren't. I guess I wasn't one of them." More blood fell out of his mouth, this time onto my shorts. _

"_No, you're wrong! You can fight this! Stop being such... such..." I broke off, unable to carry on._

"_We … both know that … that last attack did … too much damage. Just … accept it. I just … want to … say … one thing. Thanks … for being … my best friend … Sasuke …" His hand went limp in mine and a tear dripped onto our joined hands. I just sat there, with you in my arms, for hours._

End Flashback 

I think, right then, my heart broke. I don't think I ever got over it. After you, my friends died one by one. And slowly, I was left with no one. I left the rock and started to make the long and slow journey back to my house. Even as I felt the tears of the pain from losing you rise to the surface, I didn't try to get rid of them. It's been 10 years, ten years since you died. You were my best friend. I'm sorry I never got to say that to you. I'm sorry that I never showed you how much I cared. I'm sorry that I never believed in you. I'm sorry I let you die. As I reached my house and opened the door, I looked back at the statues of the past Hokage's, and your's with them. _I guess, _I thought, _that you were wrong. Some people were born to be Hokage, and you were one of them … _

_Naruto._

"Believe it!!!"

_I do._


	2. A visitor from far away

Watching, that was all she did all day. She sat, waited and watched. She just sat there, waiting. For what, only she knew. With the autumn leaves settling on the ground around her, she knew that it was going to be close. Very close indeed. She needed to get back to her own village before it turned winter. But she had her orders, to watch, recon they called it. She would gather information for her sensei, and then report back to her sensei, then the village leader. As exciting as it was, she couldn't help but think, the task that was assigned to her sucked. Didn't they know who she was? Did they not respect her? She had proven herself on numerous occasions, so why did they assign her this… this… She pondered a word for exactly _what_ it was she was doing. Waiting. That was what she was doing. Waiting. She sighed and looked around at her makeshift camp.

It was situated in the thick woods outside the village she was surveying. The thick trees gave her good coverage if anyone was to search the area by air. The intricate and silent warning alarms where sufficient at alerting her when someone was approaching. Her tent had been pitched in a rush, for she had arrived in the area well after dark. It was green, like her surroundings for maximum invisibility. The nights were cold, so there were a few survival blankets scattered around the camp.

The young girl was sitting on the stump of a tree that had been recently cut down. Well, it would have to have been recently, because she had cut it down herself. She had needed more heat last night so she had, as quietly as possible, cut down the tree to make a small campfire. But the girl had been sitting down on the stump all day, just watching the village and her butt was rather sore.

She hopped off the stump and bustled around in her tent, wanting to find some food. Instead, what she found was a very large squirrel and a large amount of food crumbs that represented her food. She rushed over to the very happy looking squirrel and shooed it away.

"Oh no!" She sighed "Now what am I gonna do? I don't know how to hunt!" In actual truth, her father had taught her how to hunt when she was young. She just didn't like the blood of animals on her hands. But, she needed to eat, and she couldn't think of anything else she could do.

Until she went outside.

Right there, in front of her very eyes, was a few berries that the squirrel had found.

_Duh! Berries! Why didn't I think of that? Even a _squirrel_ is smarter than me!_ She thought rather dejectedly. So the young female left her camp to look for berries. That was when the man made his move.

He had been watching her for some time, waiting for her to let her guard down. Of course, he wasn't here to kill her; technically she hadn't even entered the village yet. He was just going to see how serious this matter was.

The dark haired man searched her tent and found nothing but food scraps and a scroll with nothing on it. He decided to investigate the scroll a little more. He tried a number of reveal jutsu's, but nothing came up. After ten minutes of trying, he decided it was just that, a blank scroll. He left her tent and went to her pack. Just as he was about to open her pack, he felt a tremor in the earth. Not a very noticeable one, just enough for his senses to pick up.

_Hmm, maybe she's smarter than I thought. Warning systems._ But what he didn't realise was how close she was. He heard her approaching and quickly tried to disguise himself. She just walked past him, obviously to happy with having found some edible berries. So the man quickly and silently left, hoping he hadn't been detected.

"Damnit! I should have heard her!" Sasuke Uchiha muttered to himself. And with that, he returned to the village hidden in the leaves.


	3. The Taming of The Squirrel

Heya peoples! I have decided to carry on this story, i have _no_ idea why, i just have. So please, read on!

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And with that, he returned to the village hidden in the leaves.

The young girl watching Konoha sat down on her stump to eat the berries she had gathered in the forest. Through extensive knowledge of forest food and her even more extensive knowledge of the area, she knew which berries were where, and also which were edible and which weren't. She sat down on her stump to eat these delicious berries when the squirrel that caused her problems showed up right in front of her, looking at her sadly. She scoffed at it.

"How can you be hungry? You just ate all of a weeks rations. MY rations at that!" She tried to shoo the scrawny little beast away, but it just wouldn't move. Whenever she managed to get it to move, it would just come back to another spot in her camp. She sighed.

"Fine. You win. Here." She held out four of her berries, which were already precious little. The squirrel sniffed her hand, as if checking to see if they were laced with cyanide or something.

_Hmm, not a bad idea._ She thought to herself.

After a long and perilous inspection, the berries passed the squirrel's test of 'Are These Edible?'. He took one out of her hand and put it in hi mouth. He chewed it and the young girl watched it. The squirrel almost had human-like intelligence.

_Yeah right. It's a _squirrel._ What intelligence?_

Then, after eating the four berries the girl had given him, he, to her horror, ran up her leg, up her side and onto her shoulder. She foze. She slowly looked down onto her shoulder, without getting to close. It looked at her with those creepy, beady eyes and she almost screamed.

_NO! If I scream, people will know I'm here. And if people know I'm here they ask questions and if people ask questions… well… not good._

So she took a few deep, deep, deep breaths trying to calm herself and then took another look at the walking disease on her shoulder. **(A/N: that is not how I feel about squirrels, I think they are cute, but this girl doesn't. Sorry if I am offending anyone. Gomen, Arigato!) **

She could almost hear her sensei speaking what he thought would be encouraging words. Yeah right. That man didn't know how to encourage a goldfish.

_Calm yourself! You have fought some of the best ninja in your village and WON! You have been on A-rank missions! Suck it up! Just look at your parentage! Jeez, and your supposed to be good._

She had always tried to make herself stronger, to prove her sensei wrong. But as always, she was never good enough. He was extremely tough on her, although he was getting old. They say he was her father's sensei, but that was just a rumour. Her father never actually talked about his time before he came to their village, always told her that it was a boring story. But, of course, when adults say that something's not interesting, it usually is. So, that's the main reason she took this job, because her father had objected heavily to it. She hadn't seen him so panicked since the Hokage had come to the village.

_What was his name?_ The young girl wracked her memory for a name.

_Huma? Hooga? Hyuuga? That's it – Hyuuga! Hyuuga Neji._

The young girl sat there triumphantly, as if remembering this name was such a big deal. Then she remembered the squirrel on her shoulder. She sighed heavily. She didn't exactly _hate_ squirrels, but they creeped her out, the way they seemed to just disappear!

_Hello…_

If light bulbs actually flashed over someone's head when they got an idea, there would be one shinning over her head.

_That's it! If I just train this squirrel, I could get into the Hokage's office and out without _actually_ going in! That way, no one could detect jutsu's, or catch me! After all, it's just a squirrel right?_

She laughed quietly to herself.

"I am a genius!" She said to the squirrel that was still sitting on her shoulder. She didn't mind it as much now that it was going to help her infiltrate the Hokage's private office.

_Oh, this is going to be FUN._

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It turns out that training a squirrel isn't as easy as it would seem. They bite, they scratch and just don't listen.

"Argh! Stupid squirrel! Please, _please_ just do this one thing for me!" the young female begged the ratty rodent. But as it would seem, squirrels generally don't listen to humans. And even though she tried and tried to get the little squirrel to listen to her in a number of different ways, none seemed to work. She tried bribery, rewards, screaming at it like a maniac, (the last attempt didn't even come close to getting the squirrel to listen, although it did scare it away. Ironically enough, she wasn't _trying_ to scare it away now.)

Finally, the female ninja gave up on the fruitless attempt of the Taming Of The Squirrel, and sat back down on her stump. Sighing heavily, she thought of home.

_Home…_

Her attention went to her best friend, Mayah. Mayah was just over a year older than her. Fourteen years of age, Mayah was not only her best friend, but her teammate. And though they were on the same ninja squad, theirs was a special case. Mayah did not have the same sensei as the other two team members of her squad. She had her own sensei, to teach her at her own pace, with jutsu's of her own skill level. Why? Because she wasn't normal. She never had been. She didn't know why, or how she wasn't normal, but she knew that she wasn't. Her father was treated differently as well. It was her whole family. Everyone back home thought that she was clueless; that she had no idea that everyone thought she was weird. But she knew, oh by the waters if the great sea, she knew. Only her father, Mayah, and her sensei treated her like she an average person.

_I mean, dad's always grounding me, sensei's always scolding me, Mayah's always… well Mayah's just Mayah. What else is there to say?_ She laughed at the thought of her best friend.

Even though everyone treated her differently, and she was always grounded, and always scolded, she loved her home. It was where she had lived her whole life. She was born there. All her memories, good and bad where there and she couldn't wait to get back.

"This is your home, isn't squirrel-man." She wistfully to the small, but insanely dirty little fiend on her shoulder. The squirrel almost nodded. The young girl shook her head at the squirrel's weird behaviour.

"You are one weird putty-tat, you know that right?" The squirrel just looked at her as if it was saying, _'you're one to talk, girl-man'_.

She looked at the ground, slowly getting tired. She felt her eyes getting heavy when the wind picked up, and the young female really felt the cold of the autumn night then. She shivered and then went to get the blanket nearest to her. She picked it up off of the ground, ignoring the biting cold of the water gathered on the leaves that scattered the ground. To the nin's dismay, the blanket was covered in the water that she had just tried to ignore.

"Oh, this is just _great!_ How am I supposed to keep warm with a WET blanket? Huh?" She asked no one in particular.

"Ugh. New plan," she said to herself. "Get dry blanket. Get another dry blanket. Get into the tent. Sleep until you feel great enough to get up and endure another day of doing nothing but watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to get into the Hokage's office. Yeah, great plan! Just one problem," she said, enthusiasm deflating quicker than it came, "How do I get in?" So with that rather depressing thought, the young girl went to bed, wrapped in warm blankets. But no matter how much the blankets protected her, nothing could stop the chill she could feel of the winds of change.

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_**YOUNG GIRLS POINT OF VIEW**_

I awoke to the sound of crickets and the smell of cooking bacon. I opened the tent to see Mayah cooking.

Phfffft, yeah right. Ok, this is what actually happened.

I awoke to someone pulling on my blanket that for some reason had almost been fully taken off me. I looked up to see who the culprit was, and get this.

_It was the squirrel._

Man, that thing was getting on my nerves! It just wouldn't quit! I quickly sat up, to shoo it away, but it scampered. It must have been my intimidating presence.

"That's right you wimp! You run away from me and my lightening fast jutsu's! Hwah!" I went to make a chopping movement with my hand, but at that moment, a hand clamped down over my mouth and I found myself immobilised and unconscious.

"What are you doing in Konoha?" I had heard that voice before… I just couldn't pinpoint it. I opened my eyes; they were still heavy, as I had just woken up with a start. Why? I had just been doused with freezing water. I could almost feel the icicles in the water. Again I heard the voice, asking the same question.

"What are you doing in Konoha?" _That voice, where have I heard it?_ I decided to play the question game. You know, answer a question with a question? I had been told not to reveal any information about my mission under any circumstances.

"Why do you want to know?" I heard the man snicker.

"I think it would be better for you if you didn't mess around with me. Answer the question. What are you doing in Konoha?" I was insulted. How dare he? How dare he even think that I could be intimidated! Ok, so maybe I was extremely intimidated by him, but I wasn't going to let it show! No way! I tried to stand up, only to find that I was restrained. Arms tied down onto the chair I was sitting on, legs tied to the posts.

"Hey!" I protested, "This is no way to treat someone who hasn't committed any crime against Konoha!" He looked out at me from the darkness that enshrouded the room.

"Oh really. Then why was your camp situated right outside of Konoha?" I knew his type; dad had trained me to withstand guys like this before. In my training, my father would get in interrogators to mess with me. They would prey on my weaknesses, make me cry; make me break under the pressure. Everyone had thought my dad was cruel, making me go through all of that pain. But they were wrong. I have never doubted my dad, and in the long run, it helped me so much. Like now, I was more likely to survive. More likely to break him than him break me. People like him don't expect much resistance from someone like me, and that is their downfall.

"Last I checked, I had to be _inside_ Konoha for it to be an offence." I said with more strength than I felt. I could see him sizing me up.

"Well," he said in that familiar voice (If only I knew were I had heard it!), "You seem to know your way around the bylaws. True, it is a well-known law, but someone your age shouldn't have been taught it. How old are you, nine? Ten?" I gaped at him.

"No! I am NOT! I am thirteen!" I was outraged! Nine? Ten? Did I _look_ like a mere child? I looked down and realised that I probably did. I was wearing baggy clothes and my hair was cut short.

"Well, older than I first thought. So, why were you outside Konoha, miss I-am-thirteen?" I sneered at him.

"You figure it out! You're supposed to be the interrogator, not me." He took a step forward and put his face extremely close to mine. TOO close in my opinion.

"You don't know who you're dealing with. I suggest you keep your mouth shut and answer the damn questions, because I'm not afraid to hurt _little girls_." I was insulted, but I'd had been called worse.

"If I have to keep my mouth shut, then how am I supposed to answer your questions?" He growled low in his throat. This guy was seriously scaring me, but I needed to get out of here and report back to my sensei. My only option was to act tough and hope he didn't call my bluff. Then, he laughed. I don't know why, but it seriously freaked me out. One minute he's freaky as hell, and then he's laughing? Geez, he really knows how to throw his prisoners off guard!

"You really have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" To be honest, I didn't. I had only been briefed on the hokage and his guards. No one had thought it necessary to tell me about who I would confront if caught simply because they hadn't thought I would get caught. Oops. Guess I failed that exam.

"No, you're right. I have no idea _who_ you are, so I guess you're not as notorious as you thought." There I go, opening my big mouth. Inwardly, I winced.

_Yeah, nice going dipshit!_

I don't know what surprised me more; the fact that he didn't kill me, or the fact that he then untied me. I looked at him in astonishment.

"Rule one of interrogating is don't free your prisoners and you should know that, I mean you are pretty scary and all but you just made a beginners mistake but-" I realised that I was blurting out stuff I really didn't want him to know (like the fact that he scared me) and stopped myself.

"So, you really are just a kid after all. You've never been in this situation before have you? Most ninja who have been trained enough wouldn't have reacted like you did; you were so relieved that you said some stuff that gave me an edge over you. As in, I scare you." He stepped closer to me; making me, in turn, take a step back. But, he still went on.

"You see, when I interrogate ninja's, they usual cower before me, because most of them have an inkling of who I might be. Just the idea that I could be that person is enough to send shivers down their spines. It was obvious to me the moment you woke up that you had no idea who I was. But you know,"

He was so close to me, his face right in front of mine, I could feel his breath on me (talk about invading personal space!) and I had nowhere to go, I was backed up against a wall.

"You should be very afraid of me. Because… down here, no one can help you. Your village leader can't help you. Your sensei can't help you. Your friends can't help you. The only one who can help you is me, and right now I don't feel like helping you. Unless you cooperate that is." By now I was shaking because he was scaring me so much. I don't think it was just the fact that he was an enemy nin, or the dark room, or the cold, it was him.

There was something oh so very scary about him, almost lethal. I did the only thing I could do, I asked him who he was.

Ok, so that wasn't the _only_ thing I could have done, but I was as scared as a cat up a tree! Gimme a break!

"Who- who are you?" I am ashamed to say that my voice came out only as a whisper. If that. He backed up a little, and gave me my breathing room back.

"Looks like someone is willing to cooperate. In that case, my name is…"

"Uchiha Sasuke." Now that was name that struck fear into a lot of hearts. Rumour has it that he ranked a missing nin at the age of fifteen. _Fifteen!_ And that even the best of Konoha's tracking nin's could find him. But I had another reason to be very afraid of him. For you see, he's not just one of the best ninja's of my time, also the enemy; he's also my godfather…

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"_You're_ Sasuke Uchiha? The infamous missing nin from Konoha? Ok, now I am officially freaking out." And I was. He could tell. My breathing was shallow and uneven. I was also hard pressed against the wall, trying to get away from him. I heard about what he'd done to some of the tracking nin's, about what he done to his sensei, but most of all, I was afraid that he would recognise me. That he would see the resemblance. You see, he doesn't know I even exist. I _like_ it that way. You try having a godfather who is one of the strongest ninja's ever and has a record to boot.

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_**NORMAL POV**_

Sasuke stared at the young girl before him. Somehow, she felt familiar, like and old friend. He brushed it aside and went back to scaring this little girl. Honestly, Sasuke drew no pleasure from scaring her, but he had to know why she was watching Konoha and why she ahd a Sound document, even if it was blank.

"Yes, that's right. I am Sasuke Uchiha. Yes, I was ranked a missing ninja when I was fifteen, and I want to know why you were watching Konoha, while carrying a blank document from a village that was supposedly destroyed ten years ago."

_Oh SHIT._ Thought the young Sound nin. _He must have found it! Ohnoohnoohno! This is a disaster with a capital D!_

Sasuke could see that he had hit a pressure point. It was almost funny watching her struggle to find a response. He may have had some idea of the ridiculously overused excuse she may concoct, but what she said blew all his preconceived ideas about her out of the water.

"If you must know, I am here as a ninja from the village hidden in the sound. I am doing recon on Konoha for the leader of my village." It gave the girl great pleasure to watch Sasuke's face go from calm to pure shock. He wasn't the only one who had shock techniques up his sleeve.

"But – I thought that the village was destroyed! I thought that he had…" While he was preoccupied with rambling incessantly to himself the young female looked for her escape route.

"Where is the Sound village?" Sasuke said it with such venom that it shocked the young ninja. Weren't interrogators supposed to keep their cool?

"I- it- I um-" She gave up and put her head down.

"You know I can't tell you that." He grabbed her by the front of her shirt and pulled her close to him, right up to his face.

"You had better tell me where the village is. There are a lot of things I could do to get you to tell me, and none of them are pleasant." He was so angry, and he said it with such venom that a lone tear fell down the young girls cheek. Sasuke took a step back. He had made people cry before, he had broken some of the toughest ninja's out there, yet why did it hurt him to see this young girl cry?

"Just hurry up please. I would rather just be tortured than be told about my torture and know that it is about to happen to me. So please, just hurry up and torture me, because, know this. When I die, you will know nothing." The young girl looked up with tears streaming down her cheeks. Sasuke was shocked. She was _thirteen!_ She was so young, and yet she was already willing to die for her village? Sasuke took a step toward her.

"You aren't afraid of dying?" He asked her softly.

"Of course I am. I'm thirteen. I want to live and get married, have children, become a great ninja. But I won't do it at the expense of my family and friends. I won't betray them for the sake of my own life. My life is meaningless without them. They are my world. I will not swap my life for theirs. I love them with all my heart. And even you cannot change that; no matter how hard you try." She looked at the ground not realising that what she had jut said had changed hers, Sasuke's and others fates forever.

Sasuke was reeling. He knew why she felt so familiar, where he had heard that same speech before. He knew why she was a Sound ninja, why she wouldn't look at him. Because she knew. She knew that he would recognise her. She knew that he would know straight away who she was. _What_ she was. And what it would mean. And spite of all of this, he was happy. No, ecstatic. Sasuke had never had such a feeling of euphoria as this.

Sasuke let go of the female nin and left her. She just stood there perplexed. But she was even more shocked when he opened the door.

_He was letting her go? Why?_

"Why?" was all she asked. Sasuke looked at her almost sadly. He said nothing, just stood back from the door. She went to leave, wondering what the hell had happened. She got out into the sunlight, and looked around. She was no more than a couple of metres away from her campsite. Strange, she hadn't even noticed the hit there before. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Sasuke call out to her.

"What's your name?" She figured it wouldn't hurt to tell him; he had no way to use it.

"It's Kiah." And with that, she ran off into the forest.

Sasuke Uchiha sat on the ground unceremoniously.

"Kiah…" He whispered to himself.

"Kiah… Uzumaki. Naruto, why?"

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Ha! I think that must be the lamest cliffhanger ever! Beat that! If you have a worse one (One that YOU wrote) feel free to tell me! And don't forget...

FLLACUS WILL EAT YOU ALL UNLESS YOU RVIEW!!!

thank-you!


	4. A Homecoming To Remember

Heya people peoples! I would likle to use this space to dedicate this chapter to my most dedicated reviewer, Alley-Oop. Thanks for taking the time to review! Much apreciated.

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"Kiah… Uzumaki. Naruto, why?"

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Kiah Uzumaki of the Sound village was running home as fast as possible. She had narrowly escaped the clutches of the enemy village. She had been captured by a Konoha agent and weakly interrogated, then threatened, then let go. _Before_ the interrogating. Before he could do anything to her. Why had he let her go? Why would Sasuke Uchiha, the best interrogator in all of the hidden villages, let _her_ go? They both knew that she was there for recon, she had said it outright. He very well knew that it was too dangerous to let her go, and yet, he did anyway.

"What happened?" She muttered under her breath.

Sasuke Uchiha was sitting on the ground in the hut he ha built with Naruto a few years ago. He didn't know why, but ever since Neji had let him back into the village and given him a job, he had been using this place as an interrogation room. He thought he knew what he was doing. He thought that he was protecting Konoha. But now an extra factor had been thrown in. Another one that he hadn't ever thought possible.

_Why? How is this possible? Naruto, what's going on?_

He had thought that he had that kid, Kiah, she was shit scared of him, and he had known it. But then, she implied that the Sound village had survived. And that speech, he'd heard it before, long ago, from an old friend…

FLASHBACK 

_A fair-haired young man was panting, having just been attacked. He had been protecting his friend who had been hurt by the same man when he had decided that he wasn't going to be part of the village hidden in sound anymore. The snake-man was furious. His inside information to Konoha had walked out on him, leaving him with no information and no one to attack with. He had tried to get revenge on the dark haired youngster when the blonde showed up. Now, every time he wanted to get to his ex-protégé, he would have to go through his blonde companion. In his opinion, it was getting old. Fast._

"_NO!" the young blonde was standing in front of the dark haired one. _

"_I will never give in! I will never betray my friends! EVER!"_

_The snake-like man whispered back to him, "So you want to die then? Let me grant your wish!" _

_The blonde shook his head in frustration at the snake-man's inability to understand friendship and love and compassion. _

"_No! I don't want to die. I'm only fifteen. But… but my friends mean more to me than anything. I would gladly die for them, because... without them… my life has no meaning! I remember what it was like when I had no friends, when nobody cared about me! And now that I do have friends, I am NOT going to give them up! They are my world!" The snake-man laughed at him, mocking his vehement speech._

"_So be it… I will grant that wish…" And the snake-man had attacked. And attacked. And attacked. In the end, the blonde had used up all of his chakra. He was wiped out, but so was the snake-man. The blonde boy had tired him out enough so that his friend could kill him. But, just as the darker haired boy was going in for the kill, the snake-like man let out one last jutsu, one last attempt to kill the one who had betrayed him. Only… he wasn't aiming at the darker haired boy…_

_The blonde lay on the ground of the forest, to weak to move, the last attack having ripped him of any strength. His blood was freely flowing around him, forming a puddle of crimson beneath him. His companion rushed over to him._

"_Naruto you loser! Why did you have to do that! Why did you have to take all those attacks for me? After all I've done to you, after all those times I tried to kill you, why didn't you let him kill me?"_

_Naruto smiled at Sasuke weakly._

"_Because. We're friends, and friends don't bail on each other. You would have done the same. I know you would have." Tears were forming in Sasuke's eyes. _

"_But… how do you know?" Sasuke didn't know how Naruto could have so much faith in ANYONE after what he had endured as a child growing up in Konoha._

"_Because, we are friends." Sasuke nodded, just to get him to be quiet._

"_Sasuke?" Sasuke looked down at Naruto._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Take me to the statues of the Hokage's."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke's POV "Come on, don't die!" I said fiercely 

_He coughed heavily, blood dribbling out the corner of his mouth._

"_Thanks, thanks … for … everything" He managed to speak._

"_Don't thank me yet! I'll get you help! Thank me after that!"_

"_Why do you … think … I asked you to … bring me up here? You know … as well as I do … that I'm not going to … survive this." I didn't know how he could be so calm about this._

"_No!" I shouted, tears starting to leak out of my eyes. I guess I knew that what he was saying was true._

"_Come on, we … had fun … didn't we?" He was starting to close his eyes._

"_NO! Please! Just stay awake! For me!" Tears were freely flowing down my face now; I didn't even try to stop them. _

_He coughed fiercely and I held up his head to subsidise it. _

"_Just … don't forget me... kay?" I silently nodded, my voice having left me._

"_You know, I guess Neiji … was right, some are … born to be Hokage, and … some aren't. I guess I wasn't one of them." More blood fell out of his mouth, this time onto my shorts. _

"_No, you're wrong! You can fight this! Stop being such... such..." I broke off, unable to carry on._

"_We … both know that … that last attack did … too much damage. Just … accept it. I just … want to … say … one thing. Thanks … for being … my best friend … Sasuke …" His hand went limp in mine and a tear dripped onto our joined hands. I just sat there, with you in my arms, for hours._

END FLASHBACK 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto had died that day, he had given his life to save Sasuke, and Sasuke had never forgotten it. It was the day he had lost his best friend. How could he forget?

But now, he wasn't so sure that Naruto had died. That girl… she was just too much of a coincidence.

_Those blank blue eyes, the long black hair, pulled into pigtails… Wait, _blank_ eyes? But that's… _

Sasuke suddenly looked up, shock evident in his eyes. If Naruto had a daughter, that meant that the girl _had_ to have a mother and there was only one person that Sasuke knew Naruto would even dream of doing that with.

_Hinata._

Sasuke knew that Hinata had gone off to journey around the time that Naruto had died, most people thought that was why. But it never occurred to him that she could have left _for_ him. They must have already done it, why else would she leave?

But, the times still don't fit… Naruto died about fifteen years ago, Kiah was only thirteen… That meant that Hinata had to have stayed with Naruto for at least two years, no three.

And then it dawned on him. Hinata had been gone for three years. Enough time for Kiah to be born and for the times to fit. It all meant one thing –

Hinata knew that Naruto was alive.

Sasuke got up and went to find Hinata. There were somethings they needed to talk about…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kiah was getting tired from all of the running she was doing. It was getting late, it was already dark and she needed to rest. She was cold as well. She knew that she should have stopped earlier, but she just couldn't bring herself to stop putting distance from herself and the person that threatened her entire existence. If anyone knew that her father was Naruto Uzumaki of the village hidden in the leaves, well, they would send out tracking nin, to get her and her father. She couldn't let that happen. But, even though Sasuke Uchiha was the main reason that her father had to leave, and was the biggest threat to her, she couldn't help feeling happy to have met her godfather at least once. He seemed nice enough, considering the circumstances. She knew all about his past. She knew that he had had a rough childhood, she knew that he had betrayed Konoha, she knew that he had tried to kill her father, but most of all, she knew that he was a kind man.

Kiah sighed heavily, the sound of speeding feet giving way to slow footsteps.

"Uh! I can't take this wait!" As soon as she has said it, Kiah regretted it.

"'No ninja is supposed to show weakness, their enemies could exploit it and you could endanger your entire village.'" Kiah quoted. It was a saying taught to all Sound nin's at a young age. It was vitally important in the village's survival. Why? Because, if you show weakness, then your enemies will exploit it. It didn't just apply to the village hidden in Sound, it was important for _all_ of the hidden villages. It just happened that the Sound village was more hidden than the rest, like, no one even knew it existed.

Well, almost no one… Kiah had let one person know, if only to throw him off her. She actually had no idea wether he would believe her or not. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! **Why** did I tell him that I was from the Sound village? Why, why, why, why, why?! I am such an idiot! Gah! Kiah was absolutely miserable. But, miserable as she was, one clear thought penetrated all that ranting:  
That she really needed to stop repeating herself. 

"Ohhhh! I am way to tired to carry on any further tonight. So, checklist…

One: Sleep

Two: Get up and _eat something!_

Three: Pack everything up

Four: Leave and get home!

Five: Get the medal of honour for getting the mission done without…" Kiah trailed off. She couldn't exactly say that there were no mistakes. She had made the biggest one ever.

Cheer up; it's not all bad! When I get home… There's Mayah! And dad! And sensei… and the village leader… and… 

"Ah! I am **not** good at this whole 'pep-talk' thing!" Kiah let out a breath and stopped completely.

That was when she noticed that she was being followed. She didn't know how she hadn't noticed it before; she could hear it so clearly… until it stopped. She moved, then they moved. She stopped, they stopped. She moved, they moved. Then, she looked down and screamed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

KIAH'S POV 

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" It was following me!

I looked down at the squirrel and had to hold in the vomit. It was _so_ disgusting! EWWWW!!!

"So now you're a stalker?" I asked it.

Oh great, now I'm talking to it.

It seemed to nod. Once again, I freaked out.

"You are **_so_** not normal! You are possessed or something! I do not believe! I do not believe! I DON"T BEILIEVE!" I screamed at it, absolutely out of my tree.

The squirrel threw a nut at me.

I calmed down.

WONDERFUL! Now the squirrel has more sense than me! I'm nuts. I have officially lost it.

I sat down sadly. I felt like such a failure. I had compromised my village's safety, I was exhausted beyond no ends, I was stressed, and I was about to cry.

No, wait, make that I did cry.

I was utterly spent, so when the squirrel squirreled up my arm to my shoulder, I did nothing. Ok, actually I patted it, but same diff.

"Why did I have to do that? Why? I told him that I would never betray my friends, _but I already had…_" I whispered brokenly.

I got up and went over to my bag. I got out my survival blankets and lay down to sleep.

Not surprisingly, none came.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

NORMAL POV 

Kiah awoke the next day feeling a lot better than she had the night before. She was recharged and ready to take on anything… except her sensei. But hey, we're focusing on the good, right?

Anyway, Kiah was getting close to her destination, she could reach the village by mid-afternoon. Then, once she got there, she could see all her friends! The scolding that she would receive was minor compared to seeing her dad, and her sensei, and her friends, and Mayah!

_Mayah, _She though happily. She had dearly missed her best friend; they hadn't seen each other in a few months, ever since she took on the assignment at the end of summer. She remembered what Mayah had said once she'd taken on the assignment…

FLASHBACK 

"Kiah! You can't! It's way to dangerous! You of all people know the risks!" Mayah, Kiah's best friend pleaded with her.

"_Oh come on Mayah, live on the wild side! Have a little fun!" She replied happily. _

"_But they're sending you there on purpose, Kiah! You and I both know it!" Kiah looked at the ground._

"_I know. But that's why I have to go." She looked up and looked her best friend in the eye. "That's why I _have_ to go! I can't live off my father's reputation forever! I have to prove myself! It's easy for you! You have no one here; you have no one they can compare you to! You're all alone, so at least you know that you've gotten where you have by your own skill!" Mayah looked down, those amber eyes in the shade. Kiah realised what she had said._

"_Mayah! Oh no! I- I- I didn't mean for ti to come out like that! I'm so sorry! I never-" She tried to finish but Mayah cut her off._

"_No, you've said how you feel. You think I'm lucky? At least you know where your family is." And with that, Mayah left Kiah standing in the middle of their favourite spot in the forest alone. _

_When Kiah left the next day, Mayah wasn't there. She had hurt her best friend. _

END FLASHBACK 

She hadn't heard from Mayah since that day, and she knew that it had hurt, what she had said.

Mayah had come to the village at age six and they didn't know where Mayah's parents were. They still don't.

Mayah was ignored by everyone, apart from Kiah. As soon as he befriended Mayah, everyone thought the Mayah was the coolest ever. Drool to cool. You know the story.

As it approached midday, Kiah couldn't help but get excited. Even though she had made a mistake of monumental proportions, she had also gathered vital information for the village.

Kiah's excitement mounted until she couldn't take it anymore… She began to run as fast as her legs would take her. She was wearing the biggest smile she had ever worn and she couldn't wait.

That was, until she saw the entrance to the forest that led her to the village…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke Uchiha slowed to a stop. He had been tracking her all day. He had no idea she would be so hard to isolate! But she had a tonne of responsibilities, being related to Neiji after all. Sasuke thought about all of the jobs that Hinata Hyuuga had been told to tend to today.

_First there was that incident with the plant. That combination… Not pretty._ Inwardly, Sasuke wince._ Note to self; don't try any fire jutsu's combined with jutsu's to revive plants. _But that wasn't the worst._ Then poor Hinata had to visit Sakura…_

Sakura Haruno was the main medic in Konoha and, when younger, had the biggest crush one Sasuke Uchiha. She followed him around like a lost puppy. At first he hated it, but once they were put on the same team and they had been through some pretty tough missions, he started to warm up to her. Suddenly the lost puppy act didn't seem so annoying, if he didn't know himself better, Sasuke would have thought himself flattered by it in the end. But then… it had all changed when he had betrayed Konoha to join the village that was the cause of him bringing up Sakura. The Sound village. After he had left, Sakura was heart broken. Her hero had turned out to be nothing more than a dirty snake.

_Actually,_ Sasuke thought ironically,_ That was Orochimaru. _

Orochimaru was the leader of the Sound village back when Naruto and Sasuke had been friends. Back before all this, before Naruto had died. But Sasuke didn't know what to think now that Kiah had been thrown into the mix. Naruto may be dead now, but he didn't die when everyone thought that he did. Because, if he had, Kiah would have never been born. Sasuke knew that to some (mainly Neiji and Sakura) would think that he was crazy, that he was jumping to conclusions. But they weren't there. I f they had been there, they would have come to the same conclusion as him. No one could ever make a speech like that except Naruto. No one could have had a personality more like Naruto than his own children. And because of these facts, simply as they were, he knew that somewhere along the line, Naruto had betrayed them. Naruto, his best friend, had betrayed Konoha just as Sasuke had years ago.

SASUKE'S POV 

When I was following Hinata and she went into the ward to give Sakura her latest assignment, she knew something was up. I don't know how, but she knew that I was there. I'm going to go with a hunch, and say that it's because we were once so close. I guess that when you are close enough to someone, you never really forget their presence. For Sakura, it was a defence mechanism. She hadn't talked to me in years, and I didn't think that would change anytime soon. I had bot only betrayed Konoha, but her. My teammate, my friend. She had never came out and said that she hated me, but the anger in her eyes was apparent. She would ignore me, as if we had never been on the same team. But I knew better. I knew how it felt to lose someone you really care about. I had lost my entire clan to a psychotic older brother, but I think there's something worse about it when someone chooses to betray you, when the choice is theirs, that when you beg and plead, they still won't ease your pain and suffering over the loss. I had though that they were stupid, to cry over someone like me. But, I think, in the end, it made the difference between me leaving Orochimaru and staying. Naruto was the only one who welcomed me with open arms. He died to protect me, a traitor, and I think that's when everybody realised what a hero Naruto was, how much he had sacrificed for a village that would only scorn him in return. They all realised that Naruto was going to be the next Hokage. And so he was. I think it's safe to say that Naruto had the shortest reign ad Hokage, but was the best. After his death, Tsunade resigned and gave the position away to Naruto. Everyone was at the funeral. All the people in the village pitched in to make Naruto's goals and dreams for the village to happen. But I don't think anyone realised that his one wish had already been fulfilled. I had come home. He had told me once that his dream was no longer to become Hokage, that his dream of being the best Hokage ever was nothing in comparison to his new dream. He wanted to bring me home. That was the first time I cried after my parents death. That was when I had decided to go back home, back to Konoha. And once I had returned, because Naruto had already asked before and Tsunade knew that that was what Naruto had wanted more than anything, I was given a pardon. I was politically forgiven for all of my crimes. But that didn't mean that they still weren't suspicious. It turned out that it wasn't the adults that welcomed me back, it was my friends, my classmates, that had accepted me, the ones that I had betrayed. Most of them, but I could never quite forgive myself. Sakura was the one who ignored me, and no one, not me, not Neiji, no one, could blame her. So when she felt me in the ward, I couldn't blame her when she flipped. Poor Hinata had no idea what had happened…

FLASHBACK NORMAL POV 

_As soon as Hinata came into the ward, Sakura Haruno smiled happily. _

"_What brings you here Hinata?" Sakura said brightly. Hinata laughed at her enthusiasm._

"_Oh, nothing that you'll like." Hinata laughed. Sakura was scared. She knew what this was about… It was about… her next assignment._

"_Oh, deary me, look at the time! Hinata, I- um… I have to- uh- go to- uh- ward… 163! I might be a while… so yo may as well come back later!" She laughed nervously._

And we won't be here when you get back!!! Hicha!_ Sakura's inner self said with force._

"_Nice try Sakura, there is no ward 163. It was a good try though." Sakura sighed in defeat._

"_Ok, you got me. What's the assignment?" Hinata handed over the paper bag that she was holding over to Sakura. It held all the information that she needed._

_That was when Sasuke came into the ward. Sasuke could see Sakura visibly stiffen. She looked around, looking for him._

"_Um, Hinata? Did you come alone?" Hinata looked surprised at the question._

"_Uh, yeah I did. Why?" Sakura just looked furious. _

"_Oh! That no good, self-obsessed, pretty boy wannabe! Get out here now you idiot! Why are you following her?" She was extremely mad. Sasuke hoped it hadn't come to this, but what better opportunity? Kill to birds with one stone, you know? So Sasuke came out of his hiding place in the shadows and stood in front of both girls. Hinata looked vaguely surprised._

"_Sasuke? Why were you following me?" Hinata asked Sasuke. Sakura just nodded in agreement, she wanted to know to. _

"_Well… I guess there's no time like the present. Hinata… Sakura… I think…"_

ENDFLASHBACK 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kiah was looking at a bombsite. All she could see was destruction. As far as the eye could see was broken trees, chipped rock and dead animals. Kiah was horrified.

"What happened here?" She whispered to herself. Then a thought struck her…

Her friends! Her dad!

Oh no! I hope nothing happened to them! I've been away for so long, what if all I find is rooting bodies? Oh no! Dad! Mayah! Sensei!

Kiah was in such a state she didn't notice her little squirrel friend run ahead. But when she did, she took off running.

"Wait! Wait! Squirrel! Don't go! You're all I have left!" Kiah yelled hysterically.

"Please!" But it was to no avail. Her squirrel friend kept running. And then she saw why…

Her village… her precious village… It was… They were…

They were having the autumn festival! Kiah almost collapsed from relief. So everyone was ok. She looked around. Everyone seemed to be having fun.

KIAH"S POV 

I was so happy I could have cried! They were all alright! OK, so maybe I hadn't seen Dad or Mayah yet, but the village, as a whole, was ok! But real ninja's don't cry. Except when scary men who threaten their existence discover them. Then real ninja's cry. I scanned the area, searching for my dad or my sensei; they needed to know about Sasuke as soon as possible. I kept looking until a voice tore through my concentration.

"Kiah! Kiah, you're back! I can't believe it!" I knew that voice, but where? I couldn't figure out. I was horrified that I couldn't remember when I saw who it was. It was Mayah, I didn't even recognise my best friends voice! I had been away that long?

"Mayah! I can't believe it's you!" I yelled, as Mayah got closer.

"I missed you!" Mayah said when we got closer.

And then the most horrible thing that could ever happen, happened…

Mayah reached me and kissed me. My best friend in the entire world just grabbed onto me and kissed me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I guess I forgot to mention that Mayah's a guy. But I had more pressing matters than wether I had said that Mayah was a guy or not on my hands at that time.

_My best friend was kissing me._ He had his lips pressed onto mine, and I don't think he even realised what he was doing.

That is… until I did the only thing my overloaded brain could think of, pushed him away.

Mayah snapped back to reality almost instantaneously. If it weren't for the circumstances, I would have laughed. He blushed a deep shade of red and muttered something under his breath. Then he tired to explain… Let me tell you, Mayah is very eloquent. He can still the most rowdy of ninja in our town with a speech, and yet, here he was, making the most pitiful attempt to speak I had ever seen anyone make.

"Kiah… I- uh –I um… I was just… I can explain!" He finally blurted. I was too busy reeling over the fact that he had kissed me to really take in what he was saying. But when he yelled the last bit, I got my bearings back and realised why I had come back early. Mayah seemed to have picked up on that to.

"Um, Kiah, w-why are you home so early? I thought that you weren't due back until he start of winter?" I looked at him in disbelief. _He was stuttering!_

"Yeah, I was looking for my dad or sensei when-" I broke off, not really wanting to go into that right now. I would ponder that later. He looked at me guiltily.

"Do you know where sensei is?" I asked him, trying to avoid the blush that I felt creeping onto my face, now that the initial shock had worn off.

"Um, yeah. He's in the village centre, talking to your dad." He told me. I nodded my thanks and went to leave when he spoke.

"Kiah, I… I'm sorry." Mayah said with his head down. I just said to him,

"We'll talk about it later, there's something I have to tell sensei!" I didn't wait for a reply; I just went off to find my sensei.

It didn't take long to find them; the town centre was pretty much abandoned, due to the festival in the woods outside the village. And when I did, I knew that this was not going to be pretty. I had put the whole village in danger, and now I didn't even know what to say. So, I went with the truth. I approached them and my dad looked up.

"Kiah! What are you doing back?" He jumped up to hug me. When I didn't hug him back, fatherly instinct kicked in.

"Kiah, what's wrong?" He pulled back to look at me. I was looking past him, at my sensei. How as I going to say this?

"While I was surveying Konoha, I was caught by none other than Sasuke Uchiha himself. He knows about our village Kakashi sensei." Kakashi just looked up with a look of complete horror, mirroring the one on my fathers face. I had ruined _everything_.

* * *

Thanks for reading, i didn't plan on any one-sided SasuSaku fluff, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. So, please review and feel free to give any suggestions or things i could have done better. 

Thanks,

Lata Gaters!

(Remember, FLLACUS WILL EAT YOU!

unless you review.)


	5. Good Author Note

Heya peoples of Fanfic!

This is an update on the computer situation. I now have it back (brand new!) and i have already done most of the next chapter, just a few more details i want to put in the chapter, then it will be posted. It won't be too long, and for thay I am sorry!

I will be updating sooner with longer chapters soon, becaus ei will be getting my own computer soon, as in Thursday! Oh YEAH!

Anywho... It will be done soon and you can all relax!

Later Gaters!

And Review!

OR FLLACUS WILL EAT YOU ALL!!!!

P.S... I LOVE HARO!!! TeeHeeHee!!!


	6. My name is Kiah, this is my life

Heya peoples of fanfic! I finally updated! Now I know I said I would update in the next few days, but I decided that I was bored and wanted to write, so here you are. My next chapter! And... you'd beter review SHI!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO, but oh how I wish!!! Grrr! But I do own the plot, and some characters, and some places, okay, no places... Yet... TeeHeeHee

* * *

I had ruined _everything_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FLASHBACK 

"_Well… I guess there's no time like the present. Hinata… Sakura… I think…" Sasuke tried to find the words to say. None came. What was he supposed to say? He knew that he accusing one of the most respected ninja in Konoha of treason and once he what he wanted to, there was no going back. For all he knew, Hinata could deny the whole thing, but Sasuke doubted that. Hinata had never been the kind of person to lie. She was too kind, too caring, too trustworthy to do that to anyone. _

I guess that's why Naruto loved her._ Sasuke thought to himself. _

_While he was thinking, Sakura had grown impatient. She was tired of waiting for him, in more than one sense. _

"_Uchiha, you'd better tell us why you were following her, or so help me I will have court marshalled for stalking." To Sasuke, it sounded funny coming from a person who had pretty much stalked _him_ in their younger years. But, he needed answers, he needed to know if Naruto was- if he had- If there was any possibility that the former Hokage might be alive. _

"_Hinata, I know this may sound ludicrous, but somehow I don't think it will. And even if it doesn't, I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories." Sakura looked even more confused but Sasuke noticed something on Hinata's face. He had a feeling he wouldn't be too far off the mark if he said it was sorrow or guilt._

"_What _are_ you talking about, Sasuke?" Sakura obviously wanted answers, but so did he. _

"_Hinata…" Sasuke looked expectantly at her. A sad smile graced her lips. _

"_Sasuke…" Sakura was looking between Sasuke and Hinata, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. _

_Sasuke took the hint that Hinata was not going to give, so he took things into his own hands. He didn't want to beat around the bush, so he came straight out and said it._

"_Hinata, is Naruto still alive?" Sakura gasped, looking at him as if he were vermin for bringing that subject up, let alone broaching that idea. But Hinata, Hinata didn't gasp, or even look shocked. She just had that same, sad smile on her face, giving Sasuke all that he needed to know. Sakura looked from Sasuke to Hinata. She must have seen something in her eyes because she shook her head vigorously. _

"_No… Hinata, tell him that there's no way. N-Naruto _died_! He died right there, on the rock face with the Hokage's!" When Hinata neither affirmed nor denied it, she looked at Sasuke in desperation. "You were there Sasuke! You saw him die! Why are you saying this?!" Sakura didn't want to believe it._

Naruto would never do something like that, he would never even dream of it!_ Sakura thought to herself._

_Sasuke just kept on looking at the one person who could answer all their questions. Sakura followed Sasuke's line of sight, and then she too, looked at Hinata._

"_Hinata…" Sakura said when she heard no protests or denials coming from her, "Is he right? Is… is Naruto still alive?" Hinata looked away, out of the window. She looked at the beauty of Konoha, of how far it had come. She thought about what had happened, and why Naruto had done what he had. _

_After a long period of silence, Hinata sighed heavily, like the weight of the world was finally being removed off of her shoulders. _

"_Yes, Sakura. Sasuke is right. Naruto never did die. He talked to me before he left to find you Sasuke. He told me everything. About how he loved me. About how he wanted a family again. About how much he wanted to bring you home. There was only one way to do that Sasuke, he didn't plan to die, but he never planned on coming home either. He knew the only way you would ever be accepted…" She stopped herself there. She knew that wasn't right. "No, he knew the only way to get you off the hook was if it was his last request. So he went to Tsuande and asked if he brought Sasuke back, he would be pardoned. She said no. But he hadn't planned on her saying yes. All he wanted was for her to know that it was his desire for you to cleared of all charges. Right after that he came to me. He said that he loved me, but after he brought you back, he wasn't ever coming home. He told me that he would die for his best friend. That he would do anything for you. But, he said the hardest part of giving your friend their life back, was the fact that he had to leave his own behind. That's when he told me that he would never see me again. Here was the love of my life, telling me that I would never see him ever again, straight after he had finally said he loved me. I cried and cried, and begged him to stay. Sure, I wanted Sasuke back, but there were other ways. Other ways that didn't involve him sacrificing his own life for yours. He told me that this was the only way the he could ever be sure that Sasuke would get off with no strings attached. He never doubted you Sasuke, ever. He knew how hard life was. He'd had his fair share of hardships, but that was why he wanted to give you a second chance. He wanted you to carry on what he had left behind. That was when I told him that I would find him. I told him that I would tell everybody that I was going on a training journey, to strengthen myself for my clan. I told him that I would see him again. I would find a way to see him. It may not be often, I told him, but I would see him. I loved him and there was no way that I was just going to let him go. So that's what I did. I spent my three years of 'training' with Naruto. We got married. I love him more than anything in the world." Hinata looked up at this point and looked Sasuke straight in the eye._

"_You can torture me all you like, I will never give him up." Sasuke admired her strength, but she had misunderstood him entirely. He shook his head. _

"_Hinata," He said softly, "Kiah needs you. You can't be so eager to throw your life away. Naruto can defend himself, but Kiah, take it from someone who knows, children need their mothers." Sakura almost fainted at the last statement. She tried to slow her breathing, trying to get a hold of what was going on._

"_So Naruto never died… You went to stay with him for three years… You got married… And had a daughter… Hinata, why didn't you tell us?" Sakura's eyes were threatening to spill the tears that had been gathering all the way through Hinata's speech. Hinata locked eyes with her._

"_He would have been killed." Sasuke then stepped forward. Sakura took at step to stand in front of Hinata. She pierced Sasuke with the hardest glare._

"_There is no way you are taking her. I won't let you. You betrayed us once; I'm not going to let you do it again. Konoha I could have handled. But us… We were your friends…" Sakura's voice had died to a whisper on the last sentence. _

Don't they get it?_ Sasuke thought._ He had- well he had pretended to die for me! They think that I would just turn him in?_ Sasuke had to get them to believe him. So he did the one thing that would reassure them both._

_He hugged Sakura. _

_He felt her stiffen in his arms, and he waited for her to pull away and slap him or something. The strange thing was, it never came. She relaxed and leaned into him. She whispered his name, as if it were a lost treasure, that had been found after years of searching and desperateness. It comforted Sasuke to know that she didn't entirely hate him. Hinata smiled at them, and everything was peaceful until something clicked in Hinata's brain. _

"_Wait, how did you know? How did you know about Kiah? Even if you had found out about Naruto, how did you know about Kiah? There's… There's no way Naruto would have ever given her up!" Hinata looked panicky, and Sakura was wondering the same thing. _

"_I saw Kiah. She was surveying Konoha, and I took her in for interrogation. She mentioned something about the Sound Village… I flipped. I wanted to know what she was talking about. I think she took my anger as a threat against her friends. She gave me the same speech that Naruto gave to Orochimaru that day. That's how I knew, that's how I knew that Naruto was alive. Which raises and important question, what is all this about the Sound Village? I know for sure that Orochimaru was dead, I killed him myself… But, if he was destroyed… then how?"_

_Hinata now knew that her friends would not betray her or Naruto, so she told them. About how they had re-established the village, with people like Naruto and Sasuke… Orphans… people who needed a second chance... people who had nowhere to go. Naruto thought of it as a place where people could grow up free from the scorn that he had felt as a child. He may have been fifteen, but Naruto had more wisdom than anyone she had ever met. _

Naruto…_ Hinata thought._

_Pain flared through Hinata, reminding her that Naruto was out of her reach. Oh, she knew that he loved her, but they had both agreed that what he was doing, giving people a second chance at life, was more important than their love. It broke her heart, but she knew it was the right thing to do. Hinata looked up to find Sakura and Sasuke gone. She smiled. Her friends still knew her. She guessed that they knew she needed to be alone, so they gave her some space. _

Thank-you, _Hinata thought to herself. _

END FLASHBACK 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi looked toward Naruto with a look of horror on his face that mirrored the village leaders. Naruto broke Kakashi's gaze to look at Kiah.

He said just one word…

"When?"

Kiah was struggling to understand the fear on her sensei and father's faces, wondering why they were so afraid.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

KIAH'S POV 

Why are they so afraid? What's the worst that could happen? Sasuke reveals the village? He unravels 'The Mysterious Death of the Sixth Hokage'? He tells Konoha that the sound village is still around? Big whoop!

But her fathers face told her it was something more important than what she knew. So she answered.

"Um… about two days ago… He interrogated me… and I told him… I- I'm sorry!" I managed to get out. I knew by their faces that I had screwed up monumentally, and I shuddered to think what would happen to the village if my father and my sensei were so worried. But then my father said something to me that didn't seem quite right with my beliefs at that time.

"Kiah, did he recognise you? Did he hurt you? Did he do _anything_ to you?" My father had a look of… I couldn't place exactly what his expression was, the only time I had ever seen that expression on anyone else was when they were…

I was horrified.

I don't know what I had done, or what was worrying my father so, but, for the first time ever, he was _desperate._ Desperate for what, I don't know. The strangest thing was that he seemed to be worried about _me_ than about the village. If it weren't for me, the village wouldn'tbe in any trouble whatsoever, and yet my father was freaking out over me? Go figure.

I decided to pry a little further before I actually gave anyone a straight answer. I wanted to know why my father was desperate about _my_ safety.

"Um… am I not supposed to be?" I inquired. Kakashi sensei looked a little relieved.

"Uh… so did he hurt you?" Dad asked again.

This was really starting to weird me out. I had always been told that my godfather was a caring man who made a mistake. I'm sur you've had the line run past you once or twice. I knew that Kakashi sensei and Dad were right, that eh was a good man, so why were they asking if he hurt me? I'm his goddaughter! Why would he-

And then it hit me. He didn't _know_ that I was his goddaughter! He had no freaking clue! How lame is that! I sighed.

"No father, he didn't hurt, injure or maim me in any shape or form." I said in a monotone. Sensei looked surprised at my tone. For the first time since he saw me, he spoke.

"Kiah… Aren't you worried?" It was my turn to look surprised.

"What do you mean 'aren't you worried'? Of course not! Here I was, thinking that it was something awful… like the end of the world or something and then I realise y'all worried about the fact that he doesn't know I exist! Jeezums! I thought it was important!" My father and sensei looked at a loss for words.

"But Kiah, if he ever found out who you are, _he would kill you_. You know that I am supposed to be dead, you know that he was mu best friend, you shouldn't be taking such a care-free attitude!" I honestly couldn't understand the fuss. I tried explaining my side of things to them.

"Ok…" I started as if I was talking to a five-year old. "You say that he was your best friend right?" When they nodded I took that as my cue to carry on. "And I've heard all the stories about you guys and sensei right?" Again, they both nodded. "So, what's the big deal? If what you say is true and not exaggerated, if you were really as close as you say you were, then why would he kill what he thinks is the last link to you? Why would he kill what's left of the Uzumaki legacy?" I think I stumped them on that one.

Kiah-**One**

Dad and Sensei-**ZERO!**

While I was celebrating my small victory in my head, my father and Kakashi sensei deliberated.

Phft! As if they needed to! We _all_ know that I'm _always_ right, so why bother pretending to think it over? But they did anyway and, what do you know, they decided that I right! BIG surprise there. (Catch my sarcasm)

"I suppose that she is right, Sasuke is-**was** my best friend. I don't think he would hurt me or Kiah. Especially if he thinks that I'm dead. But, even if he won't hurt Kiah, if he knows about the village…" My father trailed off, not needing to explain how screwed we would be if Sasuke decided to take this any further.

Speaking of taking it further… Mayah…

The name resounded in my head, swirling around like a vortex. The name alone threatened to consume every lucid thought I had, causing me to go catatonic. I was still absolutely horrified at my best friend. It wasn't that I hadn't enjoyed the kiss, he was a great kisser. The problem was… well… it was just that… I mean I…

Ugh… Here's the deal.

With most stories, and, boringly enough, this one isn't any better, it goes something like this…

Girl meets boy. Girl befriends boy. Girl and boy best friends. Girl falls in love.

Maybe I wouldn't say _love_ but what I feel is close enough.

Ok, you ask, what's the problem? The problem is that I don't know how the story usually ends. All fairy tails end with 'happily-ever-after' but real life usually ends with… no one knows. It's different every time! That's why I don't know what to do! Do I take the plunge? Or do I take the cowards way out and live my life in doubt and regret? Yeah, I can just imagine that.

'I'll have a lifetime of doubt and regret please.'

'Would you like fries with that?'

Ye-ah. Su-re.

I know that Mayah has absolutely nothing to do with my village or my godfather's supposed desire to maim, injure or cause serious physical injury to me, but he is an integral part of my life and he and I had taken the next step…

Toward confusion! Jeezums! How was I supposed to think clearly and decisively while he was constantly on my mind? Thanks Mayah, Thanks! I sighed outwardly. The whole _Mayah – Uchiha Sasuke – Village-being-threatened_ thing had taken its toll on me. I think that's when my exhaustion finally caught up with me. All I remember is the sensation of falling (I think my knees gave way) and my father and Kakashi sensei rushing to catch me. I don't think they did…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

My eyes fluttered open and were greeted with a searing light. Protecting myself from being temporarily blinded, I shielded my sensitive eyes. I kept my hand there until my eyes had adjusted to the light streaming through the hospital window next to my bed. I moved my hand from a shielding position to a rubbing-my-eyes position. I lifted the other hand to rub my other tired eye, only to find that someone else was in possession of it.

I looked down at my right hand to see my father in a chair next to my bed, (sleeping, what else?) and sensei lounging against the open door frame. But, neither of them was close enough to be restricting my hand. I looked down to find that Tam was holding my hand. I smiled, thinking how nice it was to see her here.

Tam is my other best friend. And yes, this one is a girl. As far as I know. Anywho, she is only about a month older than me and is very talented at wind jutsu's. But most of all, she is like the sister I never had. She always looked out for me when I was young. I needed it, I was extremely weak as a child. As for physical description, she has very short and very red hair. She is about a head taller than me and would probably beat me in a straight fight. Maybe not, who knows.

I guess I need to explain some things to you. About me and my family. You may not call these people my family, but to me, they are more precious than the world itself. I have a lot to tell, so I guess I'd better start at the start. Way back when the village was first started and my mother became pregnant with me…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**FLASHBACK**_

_**NORMAL POV**_

_Hinata was waiting in the house Naruto had built just over eight months ago. It was a beautiful place, entirely Oak and Rimu. All polished. But Hinata's mind was somewhere else; she wasn't even the slightest bit interested in the beauty, as she had been so many times before. After close to five minutes of waiting, the object of Hinata's thoughts walked into the room. _

"_Naruto!" Hinata practically yelled. Naruto looked shocked to see her so… he couldn't think of the word. It was a cross of anxiousness, happiness and pure terror. Naruto instantly became worried._

"_Hinata? Are- are you ok?" He asked, somewhat reluctantly, not wanting it to be something awful, like she had to go back to Konoha. He would miss her terribly. Hinata shuffled her feet, and looked toward the ground. Naruto then realised that it had nothing to do with Konoha, she would have just came out and said it if that was it. He walked up to her and put his hand under her chin and lifted it up, so she would look at him. _

"_Hinata," he repeated softly, "What's wrong?" Hinata just wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. _

"_Naruto, I…" She sighed into his shirt, as she had done many times before when the conversation had gotten to depressing. _

"_Naruto… I… We… We're going to have a baby." She kept her head down; she didn't want to see how Naruto reacted to this news. This would cause a lot of problems. How would they get past this compli- _

No,_ she thought to herself,_ our child is not a complication.

_Naruto was simply staring at his wife with wide eyes, only thinking about the fact that he was going to be a father. He knew he didn't need to ask again. Hinata would never have told him if she wasn't sure, she knew what was at stake. He was… he searched for the word quickly in his head and found the word he was looking for… He was _ecstatic.

"_Hinata… I can't believe it… We're going to be parents!" He yelled. Naruto picked up his wife and swung her around, like the day that he proposed to her, after she had accepted._

_Hinata, however, was still worried about what would happen after the child was born. When she asked Naruto about it, he simply stated that their child would have no choice but to stay with him. Hinata was distraught about having to leave behind her child… possibly her only one. _

"_But… how could I just… it's our child Naruto! How could I just abandon it?!" She cried into him, after hours of discussion. Naruto knew that if there was anyway to stop his wife from feeling this pain, short of killing anyone, he would do it. _

"_Hinata," Naruto said softly, "You know that if there was any other way, I would stop you from having to go through this, but you and I both know that there's not. I'm sure you'll be able to visit! And no matter what, he or she will have lots of bedtime stories about their beautiful," He placed a kiss on her upturned palm, "Strong," He placed another kiss on her neck, "Amazing mother." And with that, Naruto firmly kissed Hinata on the lips, affirming that their child would not grow up without a mother, even if Hinata herself could not be there. _

_Hinata and Naruto spent the night talking and discussing the future that they were creating for their child. In the end, they knew they were giving their child a future that neither of them could have ever imagined. _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Eight months later**

_Hinata was laying in bed, after having a long, comfortable sleep. She turned over to find that her husband was missing. Sighing, she got up and walked into the bathroom. _

_The last eight months had not been easy; she'd had a hard pregnancy. The morning sickness had carried on into the night, and she had been struggling with the lack of exercise that Naruto had all but forced her to endure. Hinata looked back at the empty bed, wishing Naruto was there, laying there in his relaxed sleep, totally unaware of any problems that lay ahead. Hinata felt the arms of said man snake around her bulging stomach and pull her close. _

"_Mmmmm, you smell good Hinata." Hinata blushed at Naruto's comment. No matter how comfortable they were with each other, no matter how close they were, she still couldn't cool that blush that graced her cheeks every time the blond would compliment her._

_The blush was cut short when a sharp pain ripped through Hinata's abdomen. _

"_Agh!" She cried out in pain. Naruto whipped around in front of her, took her face in his hands and said,_

"_Hinata? What's wrong baby?" She just shook her head. That's when Naruto knew. Hinata was going into labour early._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Naruto was nervously pacing outside, waiting for the nurse to come out. Finally, he was let in to see his wife… and child. Hinata had gone into labour a calendar month early, but, according to the nurse, nothing had gone wrong. She was a healthy baby._

"_Wait," Naruto said, excitement overcoming nerves, "It's a girl?" The nurse nodded, and without further a due, Naruto ran in to meet his daughter. _

_Hinata was lying on the bed with a bundle of blankets in her arms. She looked peaceful, almost like she was sleeping, but when Naruto walked up to see her, her eyelids fluttered open. _

"_Hi." Was all Hinata said. Naruto smiled his biggest, most happiest smile he had ever smiled and bent over to lay eyes on his daughter for the first time._

_

* * *

_

And that, as they say, is a wrap.

I tried really hard on this chapter, so i would really appreciate some reviews!

FLLACUS WILL EAT YOU ALL!

unless you review!

P.S... Haro is my new obsession, along with Garvitaion! YUKI X SUICHI!!!!!


	7. Why I live this life

Hiya people of fanfic! Another chapter done, and I thought it was done very quickly; I posted the last chapter only yesterday, well the day before yesterday. But hey, who's counting?

Anywho, I just got on the computer, and then… BAM! I had a chapter done. Go figure.

But, I just want to tell you all that I am absolutely obsessed with Neji at he moment and my new fav anime character is…

HARO!!!

My new fav pairing is Suichi - Yuki from Gravitation!

That anime rocks your socks off!

So read on fellow Naruto lovers! XD!!!!

"_Hi." Was all Hinata said. Naruto smiled his biggest, most happiest smile he had ever smiled and bent over to lay eyes on his daughter for the first time._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

END FLASHBACK KIAH'S POV 

And that was how I was born. I had been born against all odds, to a seventeen year old Hyuuga, and a supposed dead nin. Yeah, not maybe they wont win most glamorous parents, but they would defiantly win most dedicated. I love them so much; they mean the world to me. They sacrificed so much for me.

But… it wasn't just me. They gave up so much for my father's best friend, Sasuke Uchiha. They gave up their lives for him (well, my father did anyway.) and my father left his hometown, his life and his friends behind for him. He was heartbroken. But he is the strongest man I have ever met. I am honoured to have him as my father. He never once cried when I was a child, although, at the time, I didn't even know there was anything to cry about… How wrong I was. I didn't know that, even though my father had built this village so he could give me the life he never had, I would always be an outcast.

But more of that later… first I have to tell you about my parents, and what happened when my mother left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**FLASHBACK**_

"_Naruto! Are you listening to me?" Hinata asked her husband rather testily. Naruto looked up from his beautiful daughter to see Hinata standing above him, looking stressed and on her last nerve. Naruto sighed._

_Lately Hinata had been stressed to the point of almost worrying Naruto to death. Something was wrong with his wife, and he had no idea what. She refused to tell him. _

"_Hinata… Are you going to tell me what's wrong? 'Cause, if you're not, I'm not going to even bother. You know we'll just end up in another fight, and, to be honest, I don't like fighting with you. You're my _wife_! We aren't supposed to fight! We're supposed to kiss, and hug, and… well you get the idea! But…. Lately…" He trailed off, remembering all the fights they had had in the last week alone. Hinata had been snappy, but he wasn't about to blame it entirely on Hinata, he knew that he could have been more tolerant. They only had a limited time together…_

_A light bulb went on in his head. He didn't like it, but they knew it had been coming._

"_They called you back." It was a statement, not a question. Hinata nodded._

"_Neji is being appointed Hokage in a week. I have no choice. He's my cousin." Hinata said with a sad smile._

"_I know. There's nothing either of us can do without revealing me. Or our daughter." Naruto was heartbroken. Not because his wife was leaving, but of the pain that was being caused to her. She had to leave behind her husband, and now her daughter. She was only a month old, but… It was too soon. Hinata needed to be there. Then he had an idea. It wasn't much, but it was all he could do._

"_Hinata? I know you probably don't have much time, or the energy… but… I'd like you to name our daughter." They had said that they would name her together, a joint thing, but Naruto had been thinking. He would see the child everyday; Hinata might see her once a year, if that. Naming her would give her something to tie them together, more than the mother-daughter bond that they already shared. Every time someone said her name, it would be a tribute to her mother. _

"_N-nani?" Hinata said, not sure she had heard right._

"_I want you to name our daughter. I know we said that it'd be a joint thing, but… I want this to be yours." Hinata just threw herself at Naruto and cried. Cried for a lost daughter, cried for a lost husband. Cried for desperation. Naruto held onto her. He would hold he as long as needed. He would hold her forever if possible. But time was running out fast. _

"_Right after he's Hokage." Naruto didn't understand what Hinata was meaning._

"_Huh?" _

"_Right after Neji's Hokage I will come back. They're still under the impression that I'm training. I can come back." Naruto hadn't thought of that. But he still wanted her to name their child. And so she did. _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Hinata had been back for a year and a half. Their daughter (which Hinata had name Kiah) was running around the town with some playmates. Hinata was sitting on the porch with Naruto. He had her on his lap, his arms around her waist. _

"_I've been called back." Hinata said suddenly. Naruto knew, he had seen the message. _

"_I know." They had talked about this since the day Hinata got back after Neji became Hokage._

_The plan was that Kiah would stay here, with Naruto, and Hinata would leave to go back to Konoha. Every year on Kiah's birthday, she would apply for leave, using the excuse of a friend's birthday, one that she met while training. Naruto wasn't to fond of lying, but, like lying about his death, it seemed necessary. Hinata and himself had decided that they could not entirely cut her off from Kiah. She was her mother, and they would make sure that Kiah would know that. _

_As Naruto was absently stroking Hinata's hair, thinking about all of the things to come, Kiah set in motion events that would change the way they live, even today. _

_Kiah discovered…_

_Lollypops._

_One of the children she was playing with had been given lollypops for a present. He had kindly given Kiah and the other boy she was playing with one each. _

_Unfortunately for anyone within a ten-mile radius, sugar has a very bad effect on her. Later on Naruto and Hinata would question wether it was the lollypop at all, but as to what happened…_

_Kiah's eyes had gone blank. They were simply large blue orbs that shone as if there were tears in them. Her body went slack, and so did the hand that was holding the lollypop. It fell to the ground, into the dirt with a light thud. A little bit of dust rose and then settled back down. _

_Of course, none of this was even registered by anyone, because as soon as Kiah had gone limp, a strange sound was emitted. It was coming from Kiah, but not from her mouth. And that wasn't the weirdest part. A light blue ring of light, about ten centimetres thick, was radiating from her along the ground. It reached out from underneath her, moving out in all directions, until it was unable to be seen. At regular, short intervals, more rings of light would fly out from Kiah, and no one knew what to do. No one moved for fear._

_Until Naruto saw what was happening. He quickly, but lightly, threw Hinata off him and rushed toward his daughter, fearing for her life. The other villagers warned him to stay away when they saw another ring of light moving toward him, but she was his daughter, he wasn't going to stop for anything._

_Then the light reached him._

_All at once several things happened. Kiah fell to the ground, her black hair whipping behind her while her eyes (now returned to normal) rolled up into the back of her head. The light stopped and dissipated immediately and Hinata fainted. Naruto (being Naruto) stood still, wondering which one to catch, and ended up catching neither. He knew that his wife had simply fainted, so he ran to see what was wrong with Kiah._

_She was simply lying there, eyes closed, expression relaxed as if in a peaceful dream. Naruto knew otherwise. She was not asleep, she was not relaxed, she was not ok. Something just happened to his daughter, and he had no idea what. He carried her away from the scared eyes of the villagers, and into his house were his wife was sitting down, looking just as scared, though for different reasons. She wasn't scared _of_ her child; she was scared _for_ her child. But, Naruto knew that he may be able to get Kiah out of the eyes of the villagers, but he could never make them forget. _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Hinata left a week and a half later, after being assured over and over again by Naruto that Kiah was fine. As it turned out, she didn't even remember the experience. She woke up and got up as usual. But nothing could stop Hinata from worrying. Kiah was her daughter, and she was defiantly feeling like a mother. She may have only been just nineteen, but she still felt very motherly. The only thing that really assured her was something Naruto had said. He had said_

"_Look Hinata. Kiah is different. It may be good different, or it could be bad different. We simply don't know. But… I'm not normal either Hinata. I have a demon fox inside of me that wants to destroy everything I care about and more. I know about being different. If anyone will understand her, it's me. You don't need to worry. I know you will anyway. But try not to worry _too_ much." _

_That made Hinata feel a little better. Actually, it made her feel a lot better._

_**END FLASHBACK SEQUENCE**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**KIAH'S POV**_

And that was the last time that my mother ever came to the village. As far as I know, she was never granted leave. But, I honestly doubt that. I don't think she ever tried. She was probably afraid of what she would find. I was only one and a half, almost two, but I remember her. I know that I look like her; I have her hair according to my father. He never lets me forget her. He still tells me stories about her. They must have been close, I don't know how he hasn't run out of stories yet. But… as for the weirdness that made her afraid… they don't know that I know. If they did… well… my father would be heartbroken. I can't remember finding out… just… for as long as I can remember… I have known. I don't know what happened, but I do know that that's the reason people treat me differently. Well, the adults anyway. The kids all treat me like I'm handicapped anyway, so it doesn't matter. I guess in a way I am. But, my father doesn't realise that he's doing to me, _exactly_ what the village leaders of Konoha did to him when he was a child. I don't think he would ever forgive himself if he knew.

I looked around my room once again, I had dosed off about an hour ago, and fund that Tam had left.

_Finally!_ I thought, _I've got my hand back!_ Inwardly, I laughed at my pitiful attempt at cheering myself up. It did a little, until I thought of something.

Why was I in the hospital, if I was simply exhausted? I may need checkups every two weeks, but that doesn't mean that I need to go to the hospital when I'm exhausted!

I guess I should explain why I need to go to the hospital every two weeks for checkups and why the other kids my age think I'm handicapped. I guess it started when I enrolled in the ninja academy. I was five.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**FLASHBACK**_

"_Dad! I don't wanna go!" I whined to my father. He smiled wistfully at me. Patiently, he said to me,_

"_Kiah, do you want to become a ninja?" I nodded my head; we'd had this argument before. I wanted to become the greatest ninja of all, but I thought school wasn't the way to do it. _

"_Then you have to go to school. You have to learn how to become a ninja, it's not as easy as it sounds you know." I nodded again, hating the fact that he was right. _

_I saw two kids playing around in the playground of the school. They were using jutsu's to have a play fight. I badly wanted to join them. I asked my father if I could and he nodded his approval. I went over and asked them if I could play too._

"_Can I play?" They looked at me and sized me up. They put their heads together and deliberated. In the end, they decided that I was a good enough candidate and began to tell me the rules._

"_Ok… you can only use jutsu's, no tai-jutsu (hand-to-hand combat)!" I looked up, shocked._

"_Oh! I can't use jutsu's, I don't have any chakra." The way the boys looked at me… it was the first time I experienced the cruelness of the world. I didn't understand at that time that not having any chakra wasn't just unusual, it was unheard of. I was a freak. And they made sure I knew it. They called me all sorts of names, some that I didn't even understand. That was the last time I asked to play with someone. Ever. I ran over to my dad and clung onto him, sobbing into his pant leg. He crouched down and asked me what was wrong. Through sobs I told him, and he took me home. I didn't go to school after that. My dad had his friend, his old sensei teach me from home. Except, he only taught me tai-jutsu. But, he taught me the theory of chakra, how to use it, and some of the techniques. Apparently, I learnt faster than any student he had ever taught. My sensei made me feel normal. At least until I went outside. My house became more of a prison. I had no friends. _

_Until the day Mayah came to the village with Tam. I guess I also forgot to mention that they were siblings. I seem to be forgetting a lot of things lately. Maybe I have Alzheimer's. Who knows? Anyway, Tam and Mayah weren't outcasts; they became extremely popular within their first few weeks of arriving in the village. They met every villager, except one. They were invited around to every villager's house, except one. Three guesses at who it was. _

_They were curious. What was so wrong with me? Why didn't I come out? Why weren't they aloud to see me? They had met my father, but ever since that day at the academy, my father had thought it best to listen to me when I said that I didn't want to see anyone. And because they were so popular, I especially didn't want to see them. But, in the end, they managed to give my father the slip and get into the house. _

"_Wow! It's so nice! I can't believe that they wouldn't let us see this place! It looks as if it was hand-made!" Mayah was admiring the woodwork my father spent countless hours on. How do I know? I was watching them, making sure they didn't go into my room. I knew that I could stop them, since I didn't have to learn any jutsu's I was a master at hand-to-hand combat. There was no way I was letting them into my private space that even my father wasn't aloud into. Ok, I lie. He was. Until I hit thirteen. But I was only young at this point, so he was still aloud in there. Anyway, Tam hit Mayah upside the head._

"_Focus! We aren't here to admire the work! Although it is nice, we're here to check out this kid that no one will talk about!" Mayah headed his sisters warning and focussed. _

"_I wonder what's wrong with him?" _Him? **Him?**_ I was insulted. I was NOT a boy! I'm still not! But, of course, Mayah didn't know that._

"_Maybe he has two heads? Or is, like, totally phsyco!" Mayah seemed excited at the prospect. I felt like I science project. Experiment KU3261-448. It sucks to be me. _

_I was so wound up in my self-pity that I never noticed Mayah come around the corner, walking straight into me. My head snapped up and my eyes were dead level with his._

_I just stood there like a deer caught in headlights. Lame, I know. He was the first to speak._

"_Y-you're a _girl_!" Again with the assumption of my being a male! Unfortunately, I was still in la-la land when his sister came around the corner. _

"_Is that her?" Mayah nodded at her. Then, he looked disappointed. He thought for a moment and then spoke._

"_Huh… you seem pretty normal to me. No extra head…" He checked the back of my head, "Don't look to phsyco… Why are holed up in here then?" I was finally back in the land of the living and answered him with what I think was a very rational and appropriate response._

_I screamed as loud and as long as I could. I wasn't used to seeing anyone but my father and my sensei. Tam and Mayah covered their ears on a futile attempt to block out my piercing scream. But, even as they both covered my mouth at the same time, I knew the damage had been done. My father would be… would be in the forest… hunting… out of hearing range… _Damn_, I thought to myself._

Plan B,I fight my way out of this mess!

_So I tired that approach. It was, I think, the smartest thing I have ever done. They dodged my fist and started using jutsu's. They seemed genuinely surprised when I didn't fire jutsu's back. In seconds they had me pinned. I was breathing heavily, but to be fair, so were they. And, it was two against one. Not exactly fair for someone handicapped in the way that I was. _

"_What's your problem?" This time it was Tam who spoke. I didn't answer, just struggled._

"_There's obviously nothing wrong with you, and you didn't even try very hard to get away, so what's your problem? Why did you scream?" I was not only angry, but also hurt. I had tried my best (ok, not my best, if had wanted to get away that much I would have hit as pressure point and killed them) and they mocked me for it. Against my will (and I really did try my hardest to stop it!) a tear slid down my cheek. I was only about six at the time. I wasn't as immune to tears and the torment as I am now. _

_When they saw me silently crying, they both stiffened and backed off. Mayah was the first to apologise, with Tam not far behind._

"_Oh! I am SOOO sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry! We just… we…" He trailed off and Tam picked up the baton._

"_Yeah, we were just curious about the person in the village that we hadn't seen! No one would talk about you, or let us see you! We're so very sorry!!!" I didn't know what to do. They were the first people to ever show me any kindness who wasn't a relative (which amounted to my father) or my sensei. _

_So what did this brainiac do? She cried more. I think that time they realised it wasn't exactly tears of sadness. So they waited until I had calmed down to ask about me. _

"_So, why are you locked up in here?" Tam asked me. Very bluntly I might add._

"_I'm not locked up in here, I chose to be in here." I sighed. I didn't like explaining my… disability to others._

"_All the time?" It seemed Mayah was just as curious. I nodded in confirmation._

"_Why?" Was all Tam asked. I sighed as tears gathered in my eyes. I may have only been a year older, but I knew more of cruelty than I did the year before, and I didn't want to lose the only people who thought I was normal. But, I thought I owed them at least that, so they could understand how hideously deformed I was. _

_After I had finished I saw the looks of disgust on their faces. I know what your thinking. There's got to be some other thing because you're friends now? Well, I'm telling you, it was pure disgust edged onto their faces. _

"_How could… how could _anyone_ be so… so…" Tam paused to think of a word. "CRUEL?!"_

_Ok, I couldn't help it. So, they didn't think I was disgusting, just the way that people treated me. But I couldn't help it! I didn't want it to sound to clichéd! But, no matter what I do, it is. Oh well, that's life. _

"_So what? That's it? That's the reason you're hiding up here? No hideous deformities? No psychotic behavioural problems? Nothing?" Mayah seemed incredulous. Well, to be fair, so was I. They were _accepting_ me. No one, since my sensei had come onto the scene, had accepted me._

_**END FLASHBACK SEQUENCE**_

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So, that's how I got my two best friends. And maybe… never mind. But that's why people think I'm handicapped. That's why I value their friendship so much. That's why I have to come to the hospital for checkups so often. And also why Tam could beat me in a fair fight. If we're just going for tai-jutsu… well that's a different story.

I laughed lightly outwards. That's when I heard a movement to the side of me.

I didn't mean for there to be any chapters on the history of the characters so soon, let alone two, but I promise that they're over.

For now… Dundundun! (Wedding March plays in the background don't ask!)

FLLACUS WILL EAT YOU ALL!!!

Unless you review.

HARO RULES! 'Damnit!'


	8. You Hit Hard

Heya peoples of Fanfic!

XD! I was bored and ecided that it was about time I updated, so sorry if you think it just cuts off.

My apologies!

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I laughed lightly outwards. That's when I heard a movement to the side of me.

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_**NORMAL POV**_

Sasuke and Sakura had left Hinata alone to her thoughts. They walked together in silence. Sasuke didn't know what to say. After all, it's not like he could say he was sorry. He had _betrayed_ her, not stolen her toy or something. It went far deeper than that.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said lightly. Sasuke nodded his head in inclination, signalling her to continue.

"I – well – I – I just wanted to say sorry." Sakura looked down in shame.

"What?" Sakura looked to Sasuke.

"For treating you the way you did. I should have listened to Naruto when he was… well, he still _is_ alive… but you know what I mean. I should have treated you better when you got back. I know that's what Naruto wanted." Sakura stopped walking to look at him, a pleading look in her eyes.

"I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me Sasuke, I know I wasn't the best friend."

Sasuke was gob-smacked.

_She's apologising? _Sakura's_ apologising?_ Sasuke thought incredulously.

"_You_ weren't the best friend? What about me Sakura? I betrayed not only Konoha, but you as well! You think you were a bad friend? I let you down! I tried to _kill_ you and Naruto! Don't apologise Sakura, you aren't the one who needs to."

Sasuke paused, not knowing if he should go on. After a speech like that, anyone would expect an apology. The silence that ensued his little outburst wasn't awkward, but it wasn't comfortable. It was just… silence.

"Sakura, I-"

"Sasuke," Sakura cut him off, "I know. You're not ready. I don't know what went down with you and Naruto, or you and Orochimaru for that matter. But, I know that you're not ready. You haven't come to terms with what went down, and even if you had, Naruto just threw another spanner into the works. So wait. Wait until you're ready Sasuke, I'll be waiting." And with that, Sakura Haruno went inside her house.

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KIAH'S POV 

I stiffened in response. I clenched my fists, ready to attack whoever was out of sight. They made a movement that I saw out of the corner of my eye and aimed a knockout blow to the temple of my attacker.

A word of warning, don't sneak up on ninja's, _it may get ugly!_

I had to wait about ten minutes for Mayah to wake up, and no, I hadn't missed my mark. My mark just happened to be my best kis- _friend_. Best Friend. That's what I was going to say. Friend. Ye-ah…

Ugh!!! Who am I kidding? (Hopefully you… and everybody else.)

Anyway, Mayah was unconscious, make that asleep (sleep sounds better… less violent on my behalf… Oops.) For close to ten minutes, and in those ten minutes I had ample time to reflect on my childhood with Mayah.

**(A/N: I know I said there wouldn't be any more flashbacks or history chapters and this one wont be but I wanted o give you an idea on Mayah and Kiah's relationship before romance got in the way.)**

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_**FLASHBACK**_

_I watched carefully, he said he was only going to show me once. Slowly, he lifted up his hands to form a bird like symbol. I slowly copied him, even though I knew that with my condition I would never be able to do it. _

_I paid close attention to Mayah as his hand sign switched from a bird to a frog, then back to the bird. I mimicked them, slowly and carefully. Mayah paused to watch me. Sensing his scrutiny, I stopped and looked at him seriously. Well, as seriously as an eight year old can. _

_Mayah's hand changed yet again to the symbol of a dog. This one was the hardest. So far I had been doing well, I thought I might be able to do it this time. But as I moved one of my fingers to make the dog's snout, I lost my grip and my hand sign fell apart._

"_Ugh! This sucks!" And it did. I sat down on the ground in defeat. I crossed my arms against my chest childishly and pouted. Mayah came and sat down next to me. Did I tell you that that sucked? I know I couldn't perform jutsu's… I just…_

_I just thought hand puppets would be different!_

"_Ki-ah?" Mayah said in a singsong voice. I just turned away. _

"_Ki-ah?" He repeated. We both knew that I wasn't mad, I was upset. _

_And we both also knew that Mayah was as stubborn as a mule._

"_Ye-ah?" I said, trying to be as mean as possible, mocking his happy tone._

"_Are you ok?" He asked, all of a sudden serious. Again, as serious as an eight year old – well he was nine- can be. Which is surprisingly very._

"_No." Was all I said._

_All he did was hug me. And I cried. You may be thinking, 'it's only hand puppets' but everybody else could do it, and I didn't want to be anymore of a freak than I already was. _

_Don't you hate being abnormal?_

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"_Oh, come on Kiah! It can't be _that_ bad!!!" I looked in the mirror. I hated it. It was disgusting! I cannot believe that I let Mayah and Tam talk me into this! How embarrassing. There was no way I was leaving the house in this state._

_I was wearing a knee-length midnight blue dress. Yes, I know. _A dress._ There was a dance at the academy, and Mayah and Tam had all but forced me to go. A dance for ninja's? I know, conceited. Ninja's shouldn't show off there beauty, (usually we're to scarred to show off anything) but at eleven can we help it if all the parents decide that it's time to chose partners for life at our age? I can see their point, I mean, it's not like any of us will ever really be able to leave the village, so that automatically leaves us all not much choice in who we want to date/marry. So, because of this rather daunting fact, the parents of everyone at the academy set up a dance that just happened to be compulsory. I hated them for that. The teachers had to go so far as to bribe me to go. I still wouldn't attend. I said I would rather fail than parade myself in a dress. In the end, my father cracked down. Actually, he more like had a talk, not a kiddie talk, were your parents water everything down, but the whole story, why the parents were so adamant about having this dance. But, even though my dad had convinced me to go, I still didn't want to. The person who did that, was the last person I thought would be the one to make me want to go. Thinking back, I wonder if I knew all along…_

_The day before I had been practising my tai-jutsu. I was in the practise area, minding my own business (and I knew that I wasn't alone) when one of the academy boys asked if he could spar with me. His name was Nyako. I agreed to let him spar with me for a few minutes, and I must admit that I got pretty into it. I didn't even see the ambush to my right._

_Suddenly I found myself on the ground, Nyako pinning me to the ground. I was mortified, but not just that, I was angry. For one, he had used a replacement or clone jutsu, and I should have seen it, but also… we had agreed not to use jutsu's because of my… _disadvantage._ While I was fuming, Nyako was still pinning me when I felt something warm, wet and absolutely gross press into and around my mouth._

_I realised with a shock that he kissing me._

_More than that, he was forcing himself on me. You may be thinking' he just got on you!' but even after I started trying to pry his gross, wet, mangy tongue out of my mouth, he wouldn't let up. If I was angry before, I was absolutely raging now. Orochimaru had nothing on me. But he was just to strong, or I was too much in shock from him being so forward and bloody aggressive._

_Next thing I knew, I was being flung to the side and hitting my but on the concrete pretty hard. I looked up to see who had thrown me, half wanting to thank them, half wanting to kind their sorry behinds, only to find…_

_No one. Absolutely no one. I couldn't see anyone, not even my little spying friends. Then it hit me. _

_Mayah._

_And Tam, but mainly Mayah. Of course, they could all use their fancy jutsu's, and elaborate hand signals (as you can tell I was pretty peed off at this stage, can you blame me? They al just ran/jutsu'd themselves away!), so they wouldn't be anywhere near here. At least, that's what I thought. _

_I heard a bang, a loud one. I knew that sound anywhere. It was the sound of Mayah and Nyako crashing together in an epic battle of love._

_Ok, so it wasn't a battle _of_ love, but it may have been _for_ love. And they were really crashing together, just not romantically, (I don't think Mayah is that way inclined, at least, his kissing doesn't imply that) they crashed physically. They always got into fights at the academy, and I didn't know why._

I do now,_ I thought to myself. So I ran over to find Mayah practically beating Nyako to a pulp, Tam trying to stop him (Mayah, not Nyako) and Nyako trying to stop him too. Only when they saw me did they actually stop._

"_Kiah!" Both boys yelled._

"_Kiah… please help?" I nodded at her. I walked up to Nyako._

"_Look, I-" He cut me off before I had even finished,_

"_Will you go to the Dance with me?" I was shocked. I wasn't going to tell anyone this, but the real reason I didn't want to go was because I knew no one would want to take me. As I have said before, being an outcast sucks._

"_I… I…" I never even got to finish because Mayah interrupted me. Buoys, I tell you!_

"_No way José! I don't think so! You practically _forced_ yourself on her, well, actually, there's no practically, you did!" Mayah practically screamed. Nyako was equally as loud._

"_Why don't you let he talk for herself? She can go with whoever she wants to, and she wants to go with me!" Oh yes, I can _soooo_ speak for myself!!! (Did you catch the sarcasm?)_

"_Ah, hell-oo?" I said, waving my hand in front of theirs faces, trying to get what little attention they had. When I was satisfied that they were both listening, I announced my decision._

"_I am going to announce my decision now."_

"_You two are both absolute losers." They both stood there like I had hit them. Nyako was the first to speak._

"_Uh, and your decision?" I sighed._

"_Nyako, that _was_ my decision. I'm not going. With anyone. Full stop." And with that I turned on my heel and left_

_About eight-thirty that night, Mayah came to apologise. I told my father not to answer the door, but nooooo, he had to go and answer it. Stupid evil lame…_

_Anywho, Mayah was coming up into my room apologise. I was sitting on my bed when he knocked on the door._

_I sighed. "Come in." So he did. _

_He approached my bed tentatively._

"_Hey, Kiah" he said somewhat… if I didn't know better, I'd say it was nervousness that made him so… nervous._

"_Hey Mayah. I'm sorry," (I wasn't really), "But I'm in the middle of getting ready for bed, and also in the middle of a cram session." To be honest, I just didn't want to see him. He had not only made a fool of himself, but of me too. It was really embarrassing and appeared conceited to have to boys fighting over me. I wasn't going to forgive him easily._

"_Ok, I'll make it quick." he said. I gestured with my hand, signalling for him to continue._

"_I'm sorry. I shouldn't have interfered, I shouldn't have made a fool of you." How did he do that? Always know exactly what I'm thinking, it's seriously scary!_

"_It was just that he is _such_ a jerk, and he was all over you, and asking you to the dance after all the things he's said to you in the past, I just lost it. If you should go with anyone, it should be someone you trust, and someone who doesn't like you just because you're beautiful." He seemed to have realised he'd gone to far. I think he was glad that I'd said make it quick, now he had an excuse to leave. I wasn't. I wanted to know what he meant. No one, aside from relatives, had ever told me I was beautiful._

"_Ok," I said after he told me he was leaving. "See ya." So with that, Mayah left me to get no sleep from curiosity and a new desire to go to the dance._

_So that's why I'm here, really not wanting to go to this dance, thinking I look like an absolute idiot, Mayah begging me in the background to get my but out here and show him what I look like. And so I did._

END FLASHBACK 

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Silently, I laughed at the memory of that night, Mayah, Tam and myself were going to the dance together, and they both had loved my dress. Sometime in the night, Tam disappeared. At the time I thought it was so she could go see her 'friend', Mako, who just happened to be Nyako's brother. But, after I got back, I think that she might have known then that we would eventually end up liking each other, or maybe Mayah had said something. I honestly don't know.

"Hey." Mayah had woken up and was rubbing his head.

"Hey to you too. Do you have to hit so hard? Jeez, you hit harder than my sensei!" Because of my home schooling, my and myself don't have the same sensei. His sensei's name is Korika. She is about twenty years older than us, but is pretty cool all the same. Not saying that anyone older than us isn't cool, but… ok, maybe I am saying that. But in my defence, they usually are much more lame than us. Except for Korika. And my father. And Kakashi sensei. But no on else. Except my godfather. Anyway.

"Hello? Earth to Kiah! Anyone home?" I came back to earth with a snap and realised Mayah was waving his hand in front of my face.

"I was just thinking, that's all." I said, smiling at him.

"About what?" He said.

"About how most older people, like over ten years older, are always so lame."

"Yeah, I know what you mean!" He said agreeing with me.

I should have known that that little kiss (ok, so it wasn't little, but hey! Can you blame me?). Things were still cool between us, and that day we proved it. We spent half the day thinking of cool and uncool older people as if nothing had happened between us.

It sucked.

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* * *

So there you go. I had lots of fun tpying that up, so hope you enjoy it!

I might not be able to update as quickly anymore, schools started back (finally a senior!!!) (and in mufty!!!)


	9. Complicated

Heya peoples of fanfic! This is my next chapter, and I'm sorry for the wait. I am writing the next chapter as we speak (or write) so it will be up in a few days.

XD!

It sucked.

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NORMAL POV 

Sasuke didn't know what to think.

Sakura thought that _she_ had to apologise, and then tells him not to until he was ready.

It was like she could read him like a book!

Sasuke sighed. It seemed like everything that he thought to be was a lie.

Sasuke thought Naruto was dead, Naruto is alive.

Sasuke thought Sakura would never forgive him and here she is giving him more time! Sasuke didn't no what to think.

On the one hand, Naruto being alive was good, but on the other it was the worst thing ever. Naruto being alive meant that that girl, Kiah, was telling the truth about the sound village. It was still around. No matter what Hinata said, Sasuke would never forget that village, or what happened there. He would never sleep soundly if he knew it was out there, Orochimaru just waiting. The name alone was enough to send shivers down the fearless nin's back.

Is it enough? Will it ever be enough Sasuke? You may have a destiny, but you also have friends… 

Naruto's words resounded in Sasuke's head. They ha been spoken out of anger, but stuck with him to this day. It was when Orochimaru had told Sasuke that he was destined to kill his brother, destined to live and fight the Sound Village, for Orochimaru's cause. Sasuke remembered, especially since Naruto died, that scene so clearly because it was the first time Sasuke had seen true anger from him. Not the 'you are really getting on my last nerve' anger that Naruto usually displayed, anger that Sasuke foolishly thought of as true anger.

No, that was the only time Sasuke had ever seen Naruto truly lose control of that joker façade that usually accompanied the blond.

Sasuke sighed in defeat. Today had not been an easy day; it had really taken the toll out of him. He scoffed at that. There used to be a time when emotional stress was something he not only was used to, but thrived off.

"Humph. Must be getting old." Sasuke said to himself.

And with that Sasuke retired for the night.

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_**KIAH'S POV**_

How did I do it?

Easy.

Why did I do it?

That is harder to answer.

I don't know where to start, it all happened so quickly.

Nothing good came out of what happened, except for maybe now I know how he feels, why he did it.

This is about to get very horrific. No, scratch that, maybe not horrific, just . . .

_Whisper_

_Feel the silence_

_Feel the flames_

_Feel them, they dance_

_Dancing for you_

_Whisper_

_Whisper the name_

_Whisper the words_

_The name on your heart_

_The words of love_

_Whisper_

Complicated.

I know, it was short!

I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! I just thought that would be a good place to end it. And for anyone asking, no.

I don't know what happens.

Well, I know a little bit, but most of what I write is spontaneous, on the spot sort of stuff.

I know, I would make the worst novelist! XD!

Good thing it's not on my to-do list.

Anywho,

I will update ASAP but, as I said last time, it will harder now that I'm back at school.

I have the next chapter, but I really don't like it. I will probably delete it and start again.

It changes _too_ much of the storyline, and to pull it off I would need a h-e-double toothpicks of a lot of dedicated readers, a lot of flashbacks (ranging in how far back they go) and a _lot_ of… weird… twists and I don't like them, so…

I'm scrapping it. Yup, I just decided now. After writing this, I will most defiantly scrap the chappy. It may take me longer to update though. Sorry.

Anyway, I own those lyrics, but I don't mind if you steal them, as long as you make a reference to me! XD! Oh, and tell me if you're going to use them. I want to read your masterpieces!!! TeeHeeHee!

Later Gaters,

FLLACUS WILL EAT YOU ALL!!!

unless you review!


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Naruto, Drama