China Doll

By Chibi Ra Chan

Rating K+

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto or the character Ni Yugito. (I don't even own Takanori.)

Note: This is my first piece for the Naruto fandom that doesn't revolve around Sakura. I never thought I'd see the day. Anyways, I was stricken with the sudden desire to give Yugito a back story and thus this. Please enjoy!

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The first few years of her life were a blur to her.

She was a weak little thing at birth, frail and delicate. With her pale skin, it was almost unnaturally white, and her thin yellow hair. She looked so very breakable, like a China doll.

Her eyes were what gave her away though. They were crystal blue, almost glass like. They slanted so exquisitely that no one believed she was from Kumo, for no creature that lovely had come from a place so locked away within the mountains.

She was a quiet child, very studious, she rarely cried, a sweet tempered baby. One that no one had wanted to claim. She could not remember her parents in the slightest, which didn't much bother her. She couldn't miss that which she never had, could she?

Still she liked to wonder what happened to them. Had they died? Were they killed in battle? Had they left her because of what she held inside her? No one had ever told her, and fearful of the answer she'd receive, she never asked.

So for the first two weeks of her life, the only human interaction she had was with nurses and medic-nin coming to feed her, change her and most importantly, to check on her seal.

They didn't name her until her second month of life, when it was confirmed that she was old enough to be taken out of he hospital. The family that had agreed to take her in couldn't bare to have their name connected to the fear nekomata and thus, a young doctor took pity on the baby and named her Ni Yugito.

The last name would haunt her for the rest of her life, the outward expression of the beast that laid in her very soul. The Niibi. The cat demon would be her saving grace and her own personal hell all rolled into one. The proof would always be the curling and binding tattoo above her right breast.

She would imagine introducing herself. 'Hello, I'm Ni Yugito but please call me Yugi.' Then she would smiled and they would become great friends. But it never happened. Even if she left out her last name, it seemed like everyone knew anyway.

'Fine, then I'll be just Yugi to me then.' To her, that was all she was. It didn't matter that she had a demon inside her, or that her 'family' hardly ever talked to her, or that she was the only 5 year old in the higher grades at the academy. To her, she was normal.

And that's all that mattered.

Knowing that, s he did everything that was expected of her. She graduated the academy and became a shinobi, just like the village told her to. She was a jounin before her adult teeth had fully come in.

At age 14, she lost control for the first time.

It was a mission into Iwagakure. She and a group of other jounin were assigned to retrieve a scroll that was stolen from the Setsumoto clan in Kumo. The entire situation had quickly spiraled out of control, but when an Iwa shinobi's sword found its self lodged in her right shoulder, it was all over.

She returned to Kumo 3 days later, Clothes torn up, shoulder completely healed, with no memory of the incident at all. An investigation revealed that Iwa-nin, Kumo-nin, and the scroll alike had been completely obliterated.

Yugi couldn't remember anything, other then a voice inside of her telling her to sleep, that they would take care of everything.

She had listened, because the demon had called her Yugi.

As time went on, she climbed the ninja ranks faster and even moved into her own house. The silence was so much better when she choose to be alone. And if she was really lonely then she'd talk to her demon, the Niibi always listened.

She was sixteen when her elevated rank first sent her far across the great shinobi nations, often for very long times. She heard stories of others like her, Jinchuriki, the Raikage had called them.

The Ichibi was in Suna, inside the Kazekage's youngest son. He was half her age and couldn't sleep or the beast completely destroyed everything.

The Sanbi was in Iwa. He and his host had been together for over thirty years.

The Kyuubi was in Konoha. The seal on young host was strong and didn't threaten his life at all. The boy didn't even know what he had locked inside him yet.

There were others, but she knew nothing of them yet. The only one she had ever met was the hermit-like Hachibi who lived in the mountains of Kumo.

When the village needed him, she was the one they sent to find him.

He barely spoke to her and even when he did it would be in rhyme. She hated how he referred to his demon as, 'That thing inside me' or to hers as her 'pet cat.'

Was that what she was going to become, a crazy hermit completely cut off from the rest of the world? She may not like people, but she didn't want to be alone forever.

But she tolerated him because on rare occasions, he would call her Yugi.

She was nineteen when she made her first non-demon related friend.

He was the medic assigned to accompany her on a long-term mission, his name was Takanori.

She ignored him at first like she did everyone else. He would ask her questions about the missions she had been on before, and she would give him the barest of answers. Most of the time though, they traveled side by side in comfortable silence.

After a particularly difficult mission nearly caused Yugi to loose control on the nekomata, but quick maneuvering by her teammate, kept her conscious and in control of herself. He finished off the target and carted her all the way home.

She talked with him the entire way back.

That was the first time she had ever received help from anyone.

She was shocked when he requested to stay assigned with her. He told the Raikage that she just needed someone to watch out for her, that she wasn't a danger as long as someone had her best interests in mind.

They were an inseparable team after that.

She was twenty-two when something between them changed. Takanori was never one for being overly distant, but she would notice him watching her all the time, even outside of battle.

After battle, he would heal her slower then usual, his long fingers would linger before letting her go. And when he spoke to her, he would ask her the strangest things. Was her favorite color really all that important? She'd ask him that and he'd get flustered, his cheeks would tint, and he'd stop speaking for hours at a time

It wasn't uncomfortable, but strange. No one had ever acknowledged at her if it wasn't necessary. And she didn't know what to make of it.

They were friends right? Then why did he act like the little girls in the academy around her?

So, she studied him just as much has he studied her. She watched him went he slept. She watched how his chest would lower and raise with his breathing, His thin lips would part and each exhale tousled around his long dark hair.

She found she liked it when his light amber eyes watched her, she liked the way his touch would send shivers down her spine, and how he didn't mind the curling seal or more importantly, what the seal meant.

Yugi also decided she very much liked the way Takanori's lips felt against for own, the way her cradled her face in his hands like she was the most delicate of china dolls.

And when he told her that he loved her, she believed him, because he called her Yugi.

She ignored her beast when it told her that he was just like all the others, that he would hurt her, even if he didn't mean it. She had finally found a way to not be alone and she wouldn't let anything change that.

She was twenty-four when everything unravels for the last time.

The mission was supposed to be simple, intercept a message between Oto and Kusa, but everything went terribly wrong. Their ambush was overturned completely by an ambush by Oto. She took one to many hits, and there was looking to be no end in sight to the Sound-nin that kept pouring in. Their sound based attacks hurt her sensitive ears, and she was beginning to see dark spots.

Takanori called for her to hold on just a it longer, he'd fix her soon, like always. But the same voice that had saved her from a similar situation ten years earlier called out to her.

'Sleep little kitten, I'll fix everything..'

"But Takanori, he said to-"

'Sleep Yugi, and everything with be fine…'

And she listened, because the Niibi had called her Yugi.

When she woke up, Takanori was gone.

Numbly, she made the trip back to Kumo, completely silent. The Raikage wasn't phased in the least when she told of what had happened. That the mission was a failure, that she had killed everyone, that she killed Takanori.

He simply told her that she would not be receiving another partner, and ushered he out the door.

With silent tears she found her way to the abandoned playground, far from her home. She never wanted to go there again, not now, when the only one she had left to talk to was her demon.

She sat on the swing for hours. Trying to block out the world. The pain, the guilt, the disgust, and the agony of loss, she tried to will it away.

Back, forth.

Back, forth.

Back, forth.

But Takanori's face remained.

'You knew this would happen kitten, I am the only one who will ever stand by you.'

She shook violently, her hands held onto her shoulders trying to control herself. 'No, he loved me! He loved me, all of me even you, you horrible creature! You killed him, you stole him from me! You too-'

"Ni-san." the voice was dispassionate and cold, completely devoid of warmth or consideration. "The Akatsuki have arrived." the unsaid 'to take you away' was clear.

And suddenly Yugi understood, the only person who would ever care for her was gone and she would never have such a precious person again. Even her demon would never love her the way that Takanori had.

Her reason was lost.

"I see."

She clutched the seal above her right breast and stood, walking right past the shin obi she spoke. "Well, let me greet them then."

'You will survive this kitten, I will never let anything happen to you my little Yugi.'

The Niibi Jinchuriki smiled bitterly as she neared the gates of Kumogakure no Sato, because this time she didn't believe the nekomata, even if it did call her Yugi.

-Owari-

Notes; this was done now that Hidan and Kazoku have finally arrived in the anime. I really liked the little that we saw of Yugito in the manga, and I thought it was only fair that she got her own story like the rest of the known Jinchuriki.

The character of Takanori was actually based off my best friend's Dollfie of the same name. Ashley, if you're reading this right now, I'm so sorry for killing of Ta-chan, but he was a vital part of the plot and he had to go.

Please leave me a review and tell me if this is even remotely good, I'm not so good with stoires about minor characters. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Forever and Eternally,

-Ra