A/N: Thank you for the reviews. I hope for this story to become epic. Except a lot of twisits and turns, and some romance in the middle. I'm pretty much allowing my mind to run wild. Yay for that.

Disclaimer: I'm not even old enough to drive a car, let alone own Naruto.

Chapter 2: The Truth and Death of a Village

She was like honey, sweet and golden. Her face, eyes bright with innocence and curiousity, was the kind that you could never forget. Her pink, full lips were always slightly turned upwards in a small, shy smile. But behind it, behind the soft glow, and the big, wonderous eyes, you could see the truth. A yearning of sorts. A wanting of something that couldn't just be given like her smile. It was a puzzle to him, and he knew the lengths that he would go to just to know what it was that she wanted so dearly.

And at night, when Luna shone big and bright in the sky, you could hear her singing. Such a sad, and lonely song it was. One of love that was never found, and happiness that never came. He pondered on if this was a clue to his puzzle of her that he had created. His inner voice sometimes spoke to him, asking why it was that he even wanted to know. He silenced it, saying how it had no business in the matter.

The song came to his ears once again on the third night of their travels, and just like so many other things about her, he could not forget it. She sung it as if speaking to a lost lover, or even perhaps to anyone willing to listen. The words came out of her mouth flowingly, and had an almost shattering effect like glass. They twisted around your heart, squeezing it of all it's tears, but he had the gift of holding them in. Even so, he still had a hard time from stopping himself from grasping and shaking her small form until she stopped her lullaby. He didn't like the memories it brought back.

He wondered at the time what she was thinking off when she lingered on the last note of the tune a little longer than before. But never once had he gotten the chance to ask where the enchanting song had come from, for each time after she would fall asleep too quickly. It bugged him, but he could never get himself to awaken her. She always looked to peaceful...Too beautiful. He often caught himself staring.

Finally, morning came, and the dew on the leaves sparkled, making the grass wet and uncomfortable. Naruto slowly opened his eyes, and cringed when sunlight burst through. A yawn escaped his lips, and rubbing his head he looked around only to see that Hinata was no longer beside him. 'Where did that woman go?' He thought to himself.

He pushed against the tree only to jump away when it shook.

Watch it, it said to him without a mouth for the words to come out of, and once again grew still and silent. A few of it's leaves fell onto Naruto as he stood there a little mistified.

"Uh, sorry...I guess." He wiped away the leaf, not realizing one was still lodged in his blonde locks. Walking away from his spot, he raised his nose slightly in the air and quickly caught the scent of Hinata, a mixture of herbs and earth from sleeping on the ground. He noticed that it lead to the small creek that they had passed the previous day. Without giving it much thought he followed his nose out of habit and instinct to find his traveling companion.

Hinata, on the other side of the small strip of trees that seperated her and Naruto, was washing herself in the creek's cold, crisp water. Her clothes were neatly folded on a rock not too far away, and a small pile of mint leaves lay on top. She had hoped to make some tea for Naruto before he woke up, as a thank you for helping her to reach her destination. "I hope he likes it strong." She said to herself quietly.

"Depends on what it-..." Naruto was just walking out from under the trees when he caught sight of a naked Hinata, and instantly his eyes were in motion. They followed down her smooth pale back, quickly taking notice of her perfect curves. Her hair had been put up in a bun, so he had full view of her neck, droplets of water scattering it's surface. A sea sponge was in her hand as she scrubbed her skin, the scene giving him goosebumps and making him bristle.

From the way she was humming to herself, you knew she hadn't heard him, even though his heart was beating rapidly. Ever so slowly, his feet made their way towards the girl. His eyes were no longer dismatched, now the same scarlet red, clouded and foggy with some unknown force.

Her scent was so irresistable...

"Naaa nana naaa nana-hm?" Hinata turned around when she suddenly heard the crunch of rocks beneath feet.

Her eyes scanned the clearing, but when she saw nothing decided to shrugged it off as her imagination. "I should probably get back to Naruto..." She said thoughtfully. She swam towards the rock, and carefully placing the mint leaves on the ground as she got out of the chilly waters to put on her sun-warmed clothing. As she was done getting dressed and picking up the mint leaves, a sudden realization hit her.

"How am I going to brew a tea without a pot?"

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"What took ya so long?" Naruto was sitting up in a tree with one leg hanging off it's large branch, arms folded in slight irritation. "I wake up and find ya gone, and the first thing I can think of is that you got eaten by something!"

Hinata blushed at his care for her, but instead of answering went over to her bag and dug through it, pulling out a small pouch. "I was g-going to make tea, but we don't have a k-kettle. I guess we can have some of these..."

Hinata held in a giggle when she heard his stomach rumble. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, hopping down from the tree, just missing a swipe of a branch. He landed roughly on the ground, and turned around to glare at the Cranky Willow.

"Don't go and get mad at me!"

It let out what could have been a moan or a grumble, or maybe even both. Naruto 'hmphed' and turned his back on the tree, putting his attention back on Hinata.

"Geez, so what's in the pouch?" Hinata handed it to him, and Naruto pulled it open to see that it was full of some type of dried fruit.

"I-It's sugar-coated apricots. My mom taught me how to make them a long time ago... A-Are you going to try it?"

Naruto contemplated on whether or not he should trust the sweet treats, and then deciding that he had almost been killed in worst ways than this, picked one out and popped it into his mouth. He was overcome with delight.

"And to think that I hated this kind of stuff!" He took the small bag and poured it's contents into his mouth. Hinata couldn't help herself and giggled at his childish antics. 'So," He said inbetween bites, "What happened to the mint leaves from earlier?" Hinata tilted her head questionably.

"How did you know I had mint leaves?" He instantly froze.

Naruto froze."I...I could smell it on you, from when you came back from the creek-" His eyes widened when he remembered that he wasn't suppose to know that. Hinata furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, and she asked another question that he dreaded.

"What? How did you know that I was at the c-creek? And what do you mean you could...smell it?"

Naruto straightened out his back and smiled. "I think it's time we get movin, don't you? We don't have time for meaningless conversations." He went to grab her arm, but Hinata backed away.

"D-Don't do that! Tell me what you ment."

He acted as if she hadn't just refused his touch. Walking over he picked up her bag, swinging it over his shoulder. He turned back to her, still smiling as if she wasn't arguing with him. "We're gonna be late if we don't start on the road again. Come on, don't you still want to go to the wind country? I thought that was why I offered to bring you."

Hinata shook her head, and gave Naruto an hard stare. "W-Why are you not listening to me? I asked you a question! And why does it e-even matter if we're a little late--"

"Quit asking so many goddamn questions and move!" Hinata let out a soft gasp and looked away. Naruto could see that he had hurt her. Pressing his palms to his eyes, he took a deep breath, exhaling softly.

"Listen, I'm sor-"

"N-No...it's okay." He glanced up, surprised. Although she still seemed hurt by what he had said, she faced him, eye to eye, and smiled. "It wasn't any of my business anyway. F-forgive me." Hinata bowed her head, but raised it when she heard his voice.

"...It's a stone..."

"What?"

"What I'm looking for...is a stone."

Hinata was confused. "J-Just a stone? I...I don't understand."

Naruto closed his eyes, and recited his old teacher's words. " 'A stone, with a natural hole through it, dry but found near the Fountain of Grim, contains the power to grant it's beholder whatever he desires.' That's what he told me four years ago. And since then, I've been traveling everywhere, soaking up whatever I could on this so called powerful rock. And so far, nothing...until a month ago."

He picked up the necklace around his neck, staring at it intently. "I made a bet with someone, that if I could catch this necklace before it fell all the way down a mountain, then they would tell me all they knew about the Grim's stone. Well, as you can guess, I did. I caught it. But...Eh, I broke a leg too." He scratched his head, grinning at the memory.

"She was surprised, and so in return for my effort, she told me what she knew. That if I ever wanted to find what I was looking for, go to the Wind country...Armaguech. I guess she forgot to ask for the necklace back." That was a lie, for he himself was the one that forgot to give it back to her. But no use mentioning that.

"Why...do you want it anyway?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, and gave Hinata a wierd look. After staring for a few seconds, he figured it was ment as an innocent question. So he gave her an innocent answer.

"I guess...it's for my own selfish reasons."

Hinata knew that she wouldn't get an answer that easily. After a few silent moments of thought, she tucked some of her long bangs behind her ear and gave another small smile. "Y...You're right, I thinks it's time we get moving." He grinned, noticing how contagious her smile was. Slipping onto his back, Hinata slid her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, opening them suddenly when she remembered one last question.

"Naruto?"

"Yea."

"Th-that teacher you talked about e-earlier, the one who told you of the stone, who was he?"

Naruto's feet left the ground as he bounced through the branches of the trees, jumping out of the forest into a large field, the grass brushing his and Hinata's skin.

"My teacher?" He chuckled, "Eh, just a very wise, very perverted old man."

"P-perverted?"

"You don't know what that means?" He felt her shake her head, as a few strands of her hair grazed his cheek. "...good."

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Death. That is all they could smell as the entered a tiny village located on the border of wind country. They had been told there was a small town that would probably allow them a free night at one of their cottages. What they didn't expect was broken houses, fallen trees, and the stench of blood that covered the ground. Scattered everywhere were the bodies of humans...mothers holding their children in the last moments of life.

Gruesome...horrific...But for him, that tiny part of his soul that he locked away deep in the recesses of his mind, the part that he wished never to meet again, got some sick type of pleasure from the nightmarish scene. For just a moment, the urges that he wished not to have came back, as they did with her. But thankfully, from years of control and meditation, he kept them locked up. For how long, he asked himself. How long until they would slip away from his grasp, and take over his mind and soul? He didn;t think about again for a long time.

"Who could have done s-such an awful thing to all these people?" Hinata asked him with a whisper.

"Who?" Naruto chuckled darkly. "A monster, or demon. Things that don't deserve to live, Hinata."

She frowned sadly, and tears fell down her pale cheeks. "I-It's so..." She covered her mouth the way she did when she felt her soul try to escape her body in moments of sorrow.

Naruto looked at her, and knew that if she got worked up over this, she could never handle what he had done in his past. "We should go..."

Hinata stood there in shock as she watched him walk away from the horrid sight. "W-What?! Waht do you mean go?! Are you going to d-do anything! We c-can't just leave! We have to help them..."

"...They're dead, Hinata. What do you want to do? Bury them? Put some flowers on a pile of bodies? What good will that do? The bodies are just going to rot away no matter what way you-"

"It's better than nothing."

He gave her a hard stare, pursing his lips then letting out a sigh. "Okay."

It took them the rest of the day, but at the end, as the sun began to set and the sky turned pink and yellow, every person that they could find, every mother that held a child, lay in the ground becoming one with the Earth and at peace. And every grave, big and small, had one flower to lay on it's surface.

Hinata looked down at the blood on her hands, and then looked at Naruto and said, "Did you notice, th-that every body had some type of symbol engraved on their back?"

"What?!" Naruto was stunned. Grabbing the last body, which was a redheaded man, and sure enough, on his dead back, was a circle with two smaller circles entwined in the center. He instantly recognized the marking. "Hinata...a spell was cast on these people."

Hinata furrowed her eyebrows. "Spell? What kind of spell?"

Naruto was hard in thought. "I can't really explain it, but it makes the victim attack it's family and friends... to be able to do it at this large of a scale...only a very powerful magician could have done this."

"Magician? But...I thought they did not believe in harming others..."

"Not all people in the world follow that rule...There are things out there that kill people for mere pleasure and-" He stopped quickly. Hinata did not notice. "And...and if whatever it was is heading this way, than they are going to the same destination as we are..."

"Armaguech..."

Naruto stood up. "We have to move quickly."

Of course, what they didn't know, was that the person responsible for the deaths, was already far ahead of them.

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A/N: I know, the ending was a little rushed, but we had a hurricane just pass through and I had to hurry and finish this chapter. Please review, its the only thing that keeps me going.