Ummm....right. Well then. Yah. It's only been like, what? 3 years? 4? *ducks* Okay, so pleases remember. This totally was started pre-time skip so Gaara is not all sweet and Kazekage. Also, I'm taking this in a completely different direction that Kishimoto-sensei ending up going, so no pointing out about bijuus and whatnot, kay? Athough I really dig some of the stuff that's happened so I may shove it in. (Sakura' being a medic nin for example) Still not sure yet.

So...here's to hoping its not another 3 years before I update again. Enjoy~!

Naruto froze at the last words spoken. Beside him he could feel Gaara do the same. Eyeing the woman cautiously, the blonde edged closer to his chained companion. "…How do you know those names?"

She snorted, looking down her long nose at the two. "Am I the only one of us who hasn't repressed their entire past?"

"Oh trust me, I don't think I could repress meeting you no matter how hard I tried." Naruto muttered under his breath. Beside him Gaara remained frozen. But he could feel the faint swirling of chakra as minerals below the ground began to grind into sand.

"Don't." He hissed. "After my last bright idea, I don't know if I could handle another jolt."

The sand nin gave the young man beside him an incredulous look. He then stilled the chakra, but cut his eyes at the blonde. "I suppose that you admit it was stupid is a sign that there may future for you after all."

"HEY! Where do you get off—"

Gaara held up a pale hand for silence before the tirade could continue. Hard green eyes returned to the brightly colored woman, boring into her. "Explain."

She arched one fine eyebrow at the pair and crossed her arms. "And if I should choose not to?"

"Then we'll kick yer ass and beat the information out of you!" Proclaimed Naruto.

"As he said." Gaara added quietly.

"As if you could. However for the sake of harmony, and the fact that we are all stronger together than apart, I suppose I will comply. However," she pointed regally. "I will have your names first. It's common courtesy."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Sabaku no Gaara."

The woman nodded, her feather bright hair rippling. "Very well. I am known as Yamamori Kazue. I was of Hidden Stone before being brought to this hellhole. " She then turned to the little one by the pond. "Mi-chan, come introduce yourself."

The little girl with silvery blue hair and a peculiarly flatish head came up quietly behind Kazue. She looked up at them with silvery eyes and then bowed shyly, speaking. "This one is called Mizuno."

Naruto smiled at the girl, she reminded him a bit of Hinata-chan in her younger days. "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. And Mr. Grumpy Sandy-pants over here is Gaara." He elbowed the redhead chained to him.

Gaara growled at the Kyuubi vessel and yanked his arm, causing the chain to yank Naruto into him almost. Once he regained his balance the blonde shoved the other back a bit. The gentle rough housing may have taken a turn for the worse had a low blood thirsty growl not echoed through the groups' little patch of Purgatory.

The chained pair went on immediate defense. After all they had been through, a sound like that was something to take seriously. Who knew when the men in black could come back and change their minds about wanting to keep the two demon vessels alive?

"It's not polite." Growled the source, little Mizuno of all things. "You should not fight in front of people you just meet and you should bow. It's polite!!"

"Bow, you idiots." Kazue commanded, her dark eyes flashing in warning.

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other. The blonde shrugged and bowed forward in greeting, tugging gently on the chain to the tanuki boy to do similarly. Gaara grunted softly but leaned forward slightly.

The growling abided and Naruto looked up at the little one who seemed to have the faint outline of…scales? Were those scales on her face now? He looked from Mizuno to Kazue and back, puzzled.

The woman sighed as if no one in the world suffered as she did. "Mi-chan, go play with the frogs for a bit longer, ne?"

The little girl blinked, nodded once bobbing her silver-blue hair, and then ran off back to the pond. Kazue then turned to the two young men. She eyed them both for a moment and the shook her head.

"You're both dumber than I originally thought. You'll never survive if you can even remember the basics. You can't even remember to be polite in front of a Kappa."

"Hey, who're you…wait, Kappa?" The fox boy tried to wrap his head around the idea.

"Kappa vessal, more specifically. Like the rest of us. You really don't remember do you?"

Kappa…something in the back of Gaara's mind stirred. Something with Shukaku…youkai….Shukaku stirred slightly, still groggy and in pain from the wards. The redhead sniffed the air experimentally and then stared hard at Kazue.

Naruto felt the boy next to him freeze. He followed the other's gaze to the older woman. "Gaara? Oi, Gaara what's wrong?"

Kazue simply crossed her arms and gave the tanuki vessel an expectant look.

"Tengu."

"So you do remember, or rather Shukaku does. Don't be certain if that's a good thing."

"Tengu? Kappa? What the hell is going on here?"

The blonde failed his arms a bit in exasperation at the situation. In response, Kazue walked to a tree, walked up it, and sat comfortably on a branch. She waved an arm in the direction of the ground near the trunk.

"Sit down, children. It's story time."

"I'll stand, thanks."

"Your choice, but it's a long one."

Gaara grabbed the chain and moved towards the ground, yanking Naruto along. "We should hear her out. Sit, Uzumaki." The blonde grumbled but took a seat.

The tengu woman looked down her nose. "Comfy? Good. Now, as you may or may not know, there are several different kinds of demons in the world. Occasionally, these demons, whether through sealing or their own will, will get human vessels. If unwilling it usually sucks for the human, but small time youkai usually have crap for power and can be taken out by a squad of ambitious genin on a bad day. So its usually not so bad for the human."

"I'm sensing a 'however' coming up here soon."

"And they say blonds are stupid! Oh wait."

"Can we please continue on with the discussion and how may possibly get us out of here?" Gaara ground out.

Feathered hair flicked over a shoulder, as she clucked. "So impatient, Gaa-chan. But yes, there is a however. However, there are larger more powerful spirits out there. Spirits rather than mere demons, because spirits are elementals. Four total. One for each element."

"Okay, so what does this have to do with us?"

"Oh, I thought a bright boy like you would have figured it out by now, Uzumaki. Kyuubi no Yoko…sometimes called the 'Fire Fox'? That's not just some run of the mill demon you've got inside you boy! Its' the gods damn spirit of fire." She glared down at the two.

Naruto looked at Gaara wide eyed. "If….if that's true then….then that means…."

"Earth." The redhead replied, eyes calculating. "The sand…the reason earth is so easy to control…"

"Bravo. You've figured it out. You two aren't in here because you're a danger to anyone. You're here because you've got two of the primordial elemental spirits sealed inside your miserable hides." The tengu carrier pulled a fan from the kimono sleeve of her top and began playing with it idly.

"Welcome to Hell, boys. Because now that they've got all of us the world as we know it is officially over."