When Naru woke she was in a hospital bed. She blinked slowly, taking in her surroundings, though not really processing anything. Her mind felt slow and sluggish in a way she was not used to. She looked around and saw that she had quite a few visitors scattered around the room. Sasuke and Sakura were fast asleep, heads cushioned on the bed close by her right hand. It looked like Sakura might have been clutching it before she'd fallen asleep. Shikamaru was on her other side, head pillowed on his arms. Iruka-sensei was asleep in a chair by the door and Kakashi was leaning against the wall by the window.

Kakashi was awake and alert and noticed the change in breathing and knew his youngest student was awake. He waited for her to say something, but she remained quiet.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly, trying to avoid waking anyone, though he could tell Iruka was awake and paying close attention.

Naru just shrugged at the question, causing Iruka's eyes to widen in alarm, which frankly confused Kakashi. Before he could ask what that was about Tsunade came bustling in. She didn't seem surprised to see Naru was awake, she had always had an uncanny sense of knowing when her patients were awake. She coated her hands in healing chakra and examined Naru's brain. As she suspected there was no residual damage to be found. Between her own efforts and the Kyubi Naru was making a speedy recovery. The healing chakra was so soothing Naru was lulled back to sleep and didn't wake again until morning.

When morning came Tsunade reluctantly discharged Naru though forbade her from training or missions for at least a week. Naru just nodded along without arguing. Kakashi was starting to get the feeling that something was wrong and from the looks on his other student's faces he was not the only one.

That feeling progressed the entire way back to the Uchiha compound. Naru never said a single word. She responded using vague gestures, so they knew she heard them, she just refused to speak. When they entered the compound, rather than head to the house as they expected, she walked towards one of the training fields. They half expected her to start training despite Tsunade's orders, but instead she just climbed a tree and sat there.

Kakashi motioned for Sasuke and Sakura to go inside, but they refused. They took up positions on different branches and waited to see what she did next.

They were there for hours. Around noon Naru moved deeper into the compound towards a small koi pond one of Sasuke's aunts had kept. She'd laid down next to the water in the shade of a tree and just laid there doing nothing.

Sakura tried to draw her into conversation a few times, but Naru only shrugged or stared. When the sun started to set Sasuke tried to usher them all inside, but Naru just laid there, eyes blank. Sasuke looked like he wanted to push the issue and perhaps just carry her inside, but none of them were sure if touching her was a good idea.

Sakura built up a small fire near the pond and expertly prepared a bowl of plain rice that she brought to Naru. Their worry increased at the look of distress and revulsion she gave the bowl and despite their please she did not eat a single bite. Naru did not sleep that night. She just lay there, staring at nothing.

In the morning Iruka came by. He looked sad and angry, but not surprised, when he saw her. He looked at the fresh bowl of rice and sighed. He grabbed Naru's arm and pulled her up into a sitting position. He put the bowl in her hands with a firm order to "Eat." To their surprise Naru complied easily, eating the food with a mechanical ease.

Iruka turned away from Naru to see them all staring at the former street rats.

"When we were younger, I looked after Naru as much as I could," he explained quietly. "there was a period where Naru just would not speak. Not for anything. It was the most broken and hopeless I've ever seen her. I'd hoped never to see it again," he admitted. "Last night in the hospital I saw that look in her eyes and I had a feeling this would happen. If you order her to eat or move she does, but I try not to do that too much. Hopefully she snaps out of this quickly."

"How long was she like this before?" Sakura asked.

Iruka grimaced. "Just under a year."

They grimaced as well. They'd wait however long they needed to, but no one wanted a repeat of what had happened before.

The next three days passed in much the same fashion, Naru staring at nothing, only eating when ordered and remaining completely silent.

On the fourth day there was a change. Naru, still silent as ever, got up and started walking. They followed at a distance, not sure if Naru was even aware of their presence. She walked for hours. Eventually they ended up in the middle of the village when Naru just stopped. She was staring blankly into an alley. They all watched, unsure of what to do when, of all people, Neji Hyuga wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently guided her away with a quiet, "Not here."

Sasuke scowled as they followed the pair covertly. He had not forgiven the older boy for striking Naru in the prelims. He didn't care if Naru stepped in front of the attack or not. And since when were the two of them so chummy?

Neji guided Naru out of the market and towards and empty training ground. Their group got a little bigger when Gai joined them, wanting to know what was so important that Neji had abandoned their mission. This surprised Team Seven. It was strange enough that Neji was helping Naru, but to find out he abandoned a mission to do so?

Neji guided Naru over to a downed log and sat them down. Gai was shocked at how gentle Neji was being. This was a side of his student he'd never seen before.

"What was that about?" Neji asked. His voice was quiet, but they were all still able to hear it from where they were hiding.

They didn't expect an answer, so they were surprised to hear Naru say, "That was where it happened." At Neji's confusion she said, "That was where I was raped the first time."

Gai recoiled a little in shock, not knowing that Naru had been through such pain. Rather than have a similar shock, Neji sighed. "I see." He said.

"How do you do it?" Naru asked. "How do you just go back to the place where someone raped you and not relive it? I look at that alley and I still see the blood stains and the spilled food."

Neji's voice was firm. "You do it because there is no other choice."

Sakura wanted to punch Neji. She'd been pleasantly surprised at Neji's behavior, but now he was reverting to his regular asshole-self.

Naru turned to Neji. "Why didn't you ever tell anyone?"

This brought everyone up short. What was Naru talking about? Sasuke's blood froze. Had Neji seen one of Naru's attacks and not said anything? If he had Sasuke would kill him, no matter what his excuse was.

"What would it have mattered?" Neji's voice was bitter and angry. "The whole village knows that the main branch uses a curse seal to torture and enslave the branch family and they do nothing. Why should the fact that they also rape branch family members change anything?"

Dead silence. Kakashi glanced over at Gai to see his reaction. From the horror, devastation and rage it was clear that this was the first time he was hearing of it.

Sasuke felt ashamed of his quick judgment. He'd been ready to kill Neji as a villain on a baseless assumption and it turned out that he was the victim.

Naru rubbed her eyes roughly. "It's not fair," she said.

Neji's voice was kind. "No, it's not."

"It's not right!" she said, voice thick with emotion.

Neji scoffed. "You and I have both been through too much to believe in "fair" or "right." If the world were fair we'd both have our parents and we wouldn't know the pain of a full-grown adult forcing themselves on a small child. Life isn't fair. And there's nothing we can do about that. All we can do is take the shitty situation we've been dealt and try to find a way to live with it."

Naru snorted in agreement. "How old were you the first time?"

Gai desperately did not want to hear the answer. Neji was thirteen. There was no good answer he could give. Even if the first time had been the day before he was still too young. Kakashi reached over to squeeze his friend's shoulder. He knew all too well how hard this was to hear.

Neji's answer was short. "Four."

Kakashi had to grab Gai as he sagged to the ground at the answer.

"Damn." Naru said, voice sad and angry. "I was at least six the first time."

Neji gave her a flat look. "That isn't better."

Naru gave Neji a hard look. "No, it isn't. But I also don't have to sleep in the same room where it happened."

"And what's the alternative?" Neji snapped. "Let's say I move into a new bedroom. It won't stop just because I moved. And then that new room is tainted. There's no point. And I won't let them win by forcing me to move to a different room."

They sat in silence for a while which gave their hidden audience a chance to process what they'd learned. Gain had no idea what he was feeling. He'd often been frustrated with his youngest student and his attitude had been a constant point of contention between the two, but he still cared for him. To hear that Neji was being regularly abused and that there was no way for Gai to stop it was a heavy blow.

It bothered him to know that Neji had never come to him about what was happening at home. How much of Neji's bad attitude was simply the result of ongoing abuse at the hands of his family?

"I'm surprised at how easily you let people touch you," Neji said after a while. "I was surprised about a lot of things about you. I could not fathom dressing as you do. Even my own teammate considers me a prude. You use sex as a weapon. I could never do that. I hate being touched and I would never willingly put myself into such a situation.

The silence was heavy. "I don't really like being touched either," Naru confessed. "All my life if someone touched me it meant they were hurting me. And that's hard to get past. But I want to have that, so I try. I initiate most physical contact which makes it easier to bear. And it's easier to let someone do something if I've done it to them first. I can let Shikamaru run his fingers through my hair because I've run my fingers through him. And its not always easy, but I don't let it stop me. It helps to have such supportive and perceptive teammates."

Neji scoffed. Naru raised a brow. "You don't feel the same?" she asked lightly.

"Gai-sensei has no sense of personal space. But Lee is the real problem. I have never been intentionally cruel to Lee, but he has built me up as the one great obstacle to achieving his dream. He sees me not wanting him as a rival as a sign that I think I'm better than him and that I think his dream is a joke. It's exhausting. It's easier to just not engage with them at all."

Gai was floored. That couldn't be true, could it? Neji was constantly goading Lee, telling him he would never be able to beat him. Actually, now that he thought about it, wasn't it usually Tenten who said that whenever she got tired of Lee challenging Neji? And when Neji did respond his tone was usually one of resignation and annoyance. He'd always interpreted that as arrogance and condescension and a belief that Neji thought he was too good for Lee. But if Neji was simply tired of being constantly challenged and harassed would that not be the tone he would use? He remembered how irritated Kakashi would get before Gai had improved enough to actually be a worthwhile opponent.

"Hey," Naru asked, "have you had, like, real sex yet?"

This made the group pause. How the hell had they gone from trauma and abuse to this?

Neji paused, just as surprised at the question. "I have not," he said slowly, "have you?"

"No," Naru said. "I kind of want to though." Kakashi's heart stopped. "I just really want to know what's so amazing about it that people are willing to ruin someone's entire life to get it. Problem is there's no one to try it with. People our age aren't ready to have sex and people who are older, at least the decent ones, don't want to sleep with a thirteen-year-old."

Kakashi started looking around intently. He'd been so sure that Minato-sensei would rise from the grave to kill him for allowing Naru to have a boyfriend, what would he do to Kakashi for listening to Naru talking to an older boy about wanting to have sex?

Neji looked a little hesitant. "If that's really something you're interested in I could help you."

Sasuke felt like his head was going to explode. This was not something he was ready to hear about. How had it even gotten to this point? Maybe he shouldn't have been so eager for Naru to start talking again.

Gai and Kakashi looked at each other for a moment before swiftly looking away. There was just no way they would ever discuss this. Their rivalry was just not strong enough to survive talking about their students have sex with each other.

"Really?" Naru asked, surprised.

"Sure," Neji said.

"Thank you," Naru said. "You know, you're a lot nicer than I thought. You were such a jerk to Hinata that I thought that's how you are."

Neji grimaced. "I was out of line," he admitted. "Lady Hinata is very kind and gentle and did not deserve what I did to her. That was likely the only time I will ever be able to fight back against the main branch's cruelty and injustice and I took it. Do not think that I was not harshly punished for my actions."

Kakashi felt a little bad for the kid. He'd personally objected to the idea of promoting Neji due to his actions in the prelims. While he actions still weren't acceptable, this knowledge certainly painted them in a much better light.

Naru sighed. "I hate your family," she said plainly.

"Yes, well, you will find yourself in good company with every member of the branch family." Neji answered.

There was a long pause as Naru seemed to wrestle with herself before eventually blurting out, "Can I see your seal?"

Neji was visibly startled. "Why?" he asked.

"I want to see if I can remove it."

Neji went very still. They weren't sure if he was even breathing. Kakashi knew he should be stopping this. The Hyuga clan would openly revolt if they discovered someone was going around removing the seal. But Kakashi had always disagreed with the practice and if the branch family no longer and to fear the seal they would likely overthrow the main branch and it would be problem solved.

Neji's voice was tight. "The main branch will never allow it." He said.

"I wasn't planning on asking for their permission," Naru said gently. "I don't even know if I can remove it. It might take a few months before I could remove it safely. That's why I want to look."

They waited with bated breath as Neji slowly reached up and removed his headband. Naru leaned closer, studying the details. She removed a scroll from a seal on her belt and drew a replica.

"I want to study this for a little while," she said leaning back. "I have an idea on how to remove it, but I want to make sure there aren't any hidden surprises. Do you know if there are any branch members who will be receiving the seal soon? It would really help to see the sealing process."

Neji sputtered. "They won't just let you watch," he sputtered indignantly.

Naru grinned, just a little. "How about you let me worry about not being seen?"

Kakashi silently ushered for the assembled group to leave. They'd followed their teammates out of concern, but now that they know they are safe it was time for them to be given privacy. They'd already learned things they honestly had no right knowing and it was time for them to withdraw. They were no longer needed, and they could use some time to themselves to process the last few days.