Chapter 1 - The princess and the balls

When Sakura was 6 she met the strangest human being. She should have feared him, resembling a wild beast eating a rabbit more than a human being. Crouched, with both hands holding the rabbit on the ground. And because her parents had taught her to treat everyone like how she wanted to get treated in return, she smiled cutely at him.

"You must be really hungry, ne?" The naked boy watched her like she was the one, who just killed a rabbit by biting down on its head. Alive. The rabbit was alive just moments ago. Any other kid might have thought it strange, could have screamed or run away, but not her. Just the other day, she learnt that there were people in this world, who ate with cutlets called 'fork' and 'knife' instead of chopsticks. How strange, right? That's what she thought too. Surely, there also must be people, who eat animals alive by biting off their heads.

So that didn't lessen her smile one bit, and instead of screaming and running away, she approached him, and the redhaired boy, with the rabbit in his mouth, backed away. The rabbit twitched with his hindlegs, however, that wasn't what Sakura was focused on. He had retreated on his legs and arms. On arms and legs! Just like an animal, she thought amazed.
Her stomach gave a hollow rumble, reminding her, that she hadn't eaten anything since this morning – which was a couple of hours ago – and she blushed lightly. Not that she wanted to eat the rabbit, no, thank you very much. But her mommy always reprimanded her, "The stomach of a lady doesn't rumble!".

The blood-stained boy withdrew a few more steps after hearing her belly rumble, which made Sakura scrunch up her nose in return. "I'm not going to steal your rabbit", she exclaimed, almost pouting. Tired from her long walk around the forest, she decided to sit down on the dirty ground, not minding at all that her pretty lime green dress was getting dirty. The wild boy had her full attention. Slowly, she shrugged off her small backpack and opened it, always keeping her eyes on the dirty boy. She figured out, that slow movements didn't agitate him as much as fast movements did. She fished her egg-ham-sandwich out of her bag and held it like it was her most-prized thing in the world, which, considering her stomach, kind of was at this moment. "My mommy made this for me", she explained proudly and bit hungrily into her sandwich. Soon enough the lost boy pinned his meal on the ground, again with both hands, and devoured it.

While they ate in shared silence, Sakura watched the crouched naked boy and he in return was keeping his eyes on her. First looking at her face, then her hair (yes, they are pink), then down to her pale arms and legs. He blinked confused and looked at his own sun-tanned limbs. His hair had the same color as the rabbit's blood he was chewing on and around his eyes were dark circles. Just like those panda bears or racoons she saw pictured in her animal book. But what intrigued her the most were his eyes. They were light green almost like her own, just a few shades lighter.

"I'm Sakura. What's your name?" She managed to ask in-between bites. "Grr…" Came the reply. He almost sounded like a wolf. At least he was not so silent anymore. "Hm… If you don't have a name, how about I give you one?" Sakura wasn't sure if he even understood what she said but continued anyway. "How about… Hm… Akio!" Proudly, she smiled at him and nodded her head. "Akio. I like it. Do you like it?" A growl was her response. Again, Sakura nodded to herself. Yes, he likes it, was what she heard.

It didn't occur to her before, but now that she wasn't staring at his face anymore, and instead, looking at his lower naked and dirty bony body, she could see something that wasn't supposed to be there. Or was it? Just between his legs. She knew her body looked different down there. Maybe her mommy would know what that was. She'll just have to remember to ask her later, when she managed to get out of this forest. Which reminded her of how she was still lost in this huge dark forest. But now that she wasn't alone anymore, it wasn't as huge and as dark as it was before, thankfully. She didn't even cry this time. Her daddy is going to praise her a lot again. When she gets out of this forest.

"Akio aren't you cold?" Startled, Akio growled at her, tossed his almost-finished rabbit away and was in front of her before she could even blink. Immediately, she held her breath. He seemed to be listening intently for something, eyes roaming around and stopping at random spots. Akio was so close to her, she could even see herself reflected in his eyes.

He smelled like the forest itself, the barks of trees and the scent of flowers, despite the still-fresh blood tracks around his mouth. He appeared so bewildered, half crouching on the ground. His skin looked like it was made of sand, still tanned, but rather rough than smooth. She didn't even notice she was stretching her arm towards him, until he flinched away from her and she let her arm float midair, still near enough to touch him. Time went by and he seemed to have relaxed a tiny bit. So, she dared to move again.

Slowly, she held her palm downwards towards his face to let him snuffle on it, just like how her mommy taught her the other day – that was with their neighbor's dog Akamaru – and there. After a moment he sniffed on her hand, bumped on it a few times and looked at her with his bright clear eyes, as if to say, Yes, now I know who you are. She giggled and opened her palm for him to lick the sandwich crumbles off her hand. Her sandwich forgotten on her other hand.

"Do you like it? I like egg and ham too." Minding his stiffness, she showed him her sandwich slowly, and after another sniff he bit into it. Sakura tried to stifle out her giggles, but he looked so perplexed that she couldn't contain her giggles any longer and let them out. Akio was desperately trying to eat the sandwich without his hands and by doing so, the egg and ham, as well as the lettuce and the bread got scattered on the forest floor. It seems like he was going to eat them separately, starting with the ham.

"Wait Akio! This isn't how you are supposed to eat a sandwich!" Sakura exclaimed. "See, you have to use both hands to hold them together", she explained and tried to get as much dirt off the lettuce, ham and eggs as possible. Clumsily, she put the ingredients into the right order. Then, she calmly reached for his blood-stained hands. Again, he flinched on contact, but this time he didn't retract his hands. It really feels like sand. Sakura lightly rubbed circles with her thump on the back of his hands. "Use your hands like this", guiding his paws carefully with her fingers to hold the sandwich firmly, she instructed, "and then bite it off." Akio was watching her intently and when she indicated him to eat the sandwich, he did. Satisfied with her work, Sakura released his hands.

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bush nearby and both kids froze on the spot. Sakura's eyes widened, her breath hitched and her hands trembled. Scarcely, she noticed how the half-eaten sandwich fell to the ground. She snatched her eyes away from it and instead looked at Akio. He growled, but otherwise didn't seem to be surprised at their clearly not-human guest.

There, not five meters away from her, was a big grey wolf. He neared them and seemed to communicate with Akio through growls and hisses. It kind of reminded her of Kiba-kun and Akamaru, since Akio seemed to understand him. Totally not like her playing dog-talking with Akamaru. The grey wolf then growled at her intimately. However, before he could come into her five-meter-radius, Akio was there, crouching protectively in front of her and putting his behind right in front of her face. Instead of wondering about the small bouncing balls in her face though, she was more concerned by the beast, who got more agitated with every passing second. And this got Akio more restless as well, which then made Sakura much more nervous too.

All of a sudden, both Akio and the wolf looked to the right into the thick forest and Sakura, confused, mimicked them belatedly. She couldn't figure out what got their attention. There were trees over trees and bushes over bushes. Nothing to be wary of, besides, well, the wolf, of course. She was about to turn her head again towards the aforementioned wolf, but then she heard it too. Faint noises. Almost too faint to catch through the singing birds and chirping insects around them. But it was there. The barking of dogs could be heard along with the noises made by humans. They were too far away for her to understand what they were talking about, but surely, they would hear her if she dared to scream. But she didn't.

The big wolf growled again, more like hissed into the forest, and Akio mimicked him. With every passing second, the voices got louder. And moments before she could hear them, the wild dog turned back towards the tensed kids, huffed at them and then bolted into the huge dark forest. Away from the noises, away from humans, away from danger.

"Sakura!", was screamed through the forest, she panicked a little. They were searching for her! The dog barks got louder as well. They were near, they'd be here any minute now. Akio seemed unsure of his actions. He was tiptoeing on his skinny legs and arms, growling under his breath, talking to himself. Never staying in one place for too long. First forward into the deep forest, and then back again, crouching in front of Sakura, as if to protect her. Sakura wasn't sure from what.

He seemed to have come to an agreement with himself, because the next minute, he was bouncing into the opposite direction from the noises, going deep into the forest, following the route the scary wolf took moments ago. Before Sakura could manage to utter anything, some kind of goodbye, Akio was almost gone into the bushes. His bright red hair the only thing she could see. One last time, he turned his head around and when they made eye contact, she waved at him. And then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

"Oh! And Daddy! I've met a racoon-wolf inside the forest!"

"Is that so, princess?" A racoon? In this forest? Who looked like a wolf?

"Yes! And I named him Akio! You know? Just like the dog Hana-oneesan and Kiba-kun showed me before!"

"Eh? So was he the black sheep in his family too?" Or not. Seems like she's been fantasizing all day long again.

"Black sheep? No! Silly daddy! He was not black, and he was not a sheep as well! He's got the same hair color as Akio!" Kizashi smiled to himself and gave an affirmative hum. So, he has this peculiar red fur color as well. Next time she's seeing a dragon speaking human language.

"Oh! And I taught him how to eat a sandwich with his hands! And there was a rabbit too! But the head got separated from its body. But the body was still moving!" Sakura excitedly blabbered on, making it hard for her father to respond. "Whoa, slow down Sakura. One thing after the other." Thank kami, she wasn't hurt. Otherwise I would have killed myself. Scratch that, Mebuki would have killed me first.

All of a sudden, Kizashi felt like the air got 10˚C colder. He shivered and hugged Sakura closer to him. "Say princess, is it just Daddy or did the temperature suddenly drop?" He murmured playfully into her ear. "Silly daddy! It's super-hot right now!" Sakura giggled but hugged him back just as earnestly.

"Mommy?" Little Sakura asked from the living room. It was late in the afternoon.

"Yes, sweetie?", came a reply from the kitchen. "Why did Akio have a ball?" Sakura was absentmindedly playing with her favorite doll.

"A ball? What kind of ball?"

"A ball. You know? It doesn't seem like it gets off!" Sakura exclaimed confused. She scampered over to the kitchen entrance and made a full-stop there. No playing inside the kitchen, her mind scolded, imitating her mother's voice.

"Maybe he was playing with the ball", answered Mebuki, who was busy preparing dinner and was only half-listening to her daughter.

"No, he wasn't! It was stuck to him the whole time!" Sakura got impatient and shouted, "Right here!"

"Where, sweetie?" Hearing her daughter's desperate voice, Mebuki turned her head around.

"Right here Mommy!" Sakura grabbed between her legs, indicating where the ball got stuck. Kizashi, who just came out from the bathroom, witnessed the last scene and a loud roaring laughter could be heard echoing around the cozy small home.

Author's note
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.
This is my first story. So i'm still experimenting this new world of fanfiction.
I appreciate every favorite, follow and review i get!
And lastly, thanks for reading.