Many thanks to those who reviewed especially my anonymous reviewer miscleafnin. In real life I don't usually speak very much, so I don't really have many skills when it comes to talking to people which probably shows up a lot in the conversations in my story. So please bare with me as I slowly improve.

Kyuubi-chan

#Story Start#

-

The two chuunin could not help but laugh, their genjutsu yesterday was perfect.

-

"He was different, he's the same as me, maybe I've found a real friend and not just an imaginary one" were her last thoughts as Hinata drifted off to sleep, dreaming of better days and not of the usual nightmares.

She awoke the next morning with one thing on her mind, meeting with Naruto, she quickly got dressed and went to breakfast. Breakfast in the Hyuuga manor was very different to your usual family breakfast, in the middle of the main dining room lied a very large oaken table, seats spread out so far from each other that it was impossible to pass anything to the person next to you.

She sat down as a servant from the branch family bought her some food. No one was there except her and the servants, not that the servants been there meant much. They were forbidden from any form of interaction other than servant/master under strict penalties, and even through the servant girl was nice enough to Hinata becoming friends with her would result in bad things happening to both her and especially the servant girl.

Finishing her breakfast, she sneaked out of the Hyuuga mansion to go meet Naruto in the area of the forest with the flat stone again. As she walked out of the gates Hiashi stepped out from behind a tree watching her leave. "At least her stealth is getting slightly better its becoming her strongest point but that's not going to be good enough. If she makes no progress soon she will receive the caged bird seal of the branch family, there's already a replacement lined up. She's too much like her mother." Hiashi started walking back to the Hyuuga manor thinking of ways to force Hinata to improve to the expected standards of an heir before the council would take drastic actions that would seal her fate.

Her instincts told her someone was watching her, she turned around looking at the Hyuuga complex, she took an unknowing last look at her home, finding nothing wrong and no one watching her she continued on her way to meet with Naruto.

-

The sun woke him up earlier than expected, resulting in him falling out of bed, trapped in those damn evil bed sheets again. Damn that window and damn those sheets he thought, then he quickly remembered yesterday and his newfound friend, forgetting his annoyance and smiling another genuine smile.

Leaving his apartment he ripped off the note from the villagers that was cello taped to his door, crumpled it up and started making his way to the forest to meet with Hinata.

Waiting at the clearing, it wasn't long until Naruto heard the bushes moving and Hinata popping her head through. She quickly became stuck in the bush, struggling to make her way to the other side. Naruto trying not to laugh but laughing anyway quickly helped Hinata untangle herself from the grasp of the evil.

"Ano, im glad you came" Naruto said quietly, been unusually shy.

Hinata looked up at him, (She's slightly shorter than him) "Of cour-se I'd com-e" with a slight stutter due to her nervousness at replying to such a comment.

Naruto gave his classic fox grin "so what have you been up to Hinata-chan?"

"Not much Naruto-kun, I managed to sneak off without anyone noticing me, so I think I can stay here for the rest of the day" she said smiling, still surprised at the chan suffix.

Both continued talking with the type of conversation that you would normally have between two seven year olds, until kunai suddenly came flying towards them from the trees. The kunai hit both Naruto and Hinata's legs, making both of them fall to the floor, Hinata started to whimper, Naruto used to the pain thanks to the endless torment of the villagers managed to stay silent.

Two Hyuuga jumped down from the trees, they both looked around fifteen and had the branch family seal upon their foreheads.

Both looking towards Hinata, "We have a message for you from the council, we thought we might as well explain, it's the least we should do to someone who used to be in the main branch." Hinata still whimpering managed to look upwards to the two Hyuuga, Naruto glared, he knew from past experience shouting abuse back at his attackers just made the beatings worse. Usually he would be screaming as many insults as possible, not caring if he made it worse but Hinata was here and he didn't want her to be hurt because of him.

The other Hyuuga started speaking "The council has decided that you are too weak to be the heir of the Hyuuga, the reason the Hyuuga is powerful is because we throw away our weaknesses so that our blood is never tainted. We have been ordered to kill you, and as a bonus it looks like we get to kill the demon fox too" he prepared to throw his kunai to finish them off, Hyuuga techniques would be too obvious in an autopsy.

Realising not saying anything was not really helping very much, "I wont let you hurt Hinata" Naruto shouted. He shakily stood up and stumbled protectively in front of Hinata. The two Hyuuga's scowled, "you're a disgrace being friends with that thing Hinata, it killed so many of our clan, you do know that it's the kyuubi in disguise don't you" the Hyuuga pointed at Naruto, who's eyes went wide. "Why did you think the villagers hated you so much, killing you is an added bonus its not every day we get to kill an ex-member of the main family and the kyuubi", the Hyuuga threw several kunai at Naruto some hitting him in the arms, stomach and chest. Naruto tried moving forward to attack the two chuunins, but found himself unable to move. He was in pain unlike anything he had ever felt before. He slowly felt the darkness enveloping him and collapsed on the floor just in front of Hinata.

Hinata, screamed becoming slightly hysterical shaking Naruto repeatedly trying to get him to wakeup. Not getting any response from Naruto, she charged towards the chuunin with an amazing burst of speed attempting to remember as much of the gentle fist as possible. She got no further than a foot before two kunai went into her stomach causing her to lose consciousness from the pain, and fall on top of Naruto.

"What should we do now? there not dead yet"

"We let them bleed to death, killing them any other way could draw attention to the Hyuuga house. We will just have to wait for them to die, shame there not conscious I still think we did it too quick"

"Are you serious, the kyuubi I could understand, but isn't a kunai to the stomach meant to be the most painful way to die?"

"I suppose so, anyway go check if they're dead yet, and pose for the camera, I want a keep sake of the kyuubi's defeat"

-

Hinata awoke in a puddle of water, she looked around finding herself in a dark corridor, water dripping from the ceilings, slime oozing down the walls. Slowly getting to her feet she looked around, puzzlement showing on her face "Am I dead" she though to herself. Taking a look around there was a solid brick wall behind her, it looked newer as if it had been after the tunnel had, she then noted a soft red glow coming from further down the tunnel. With nothing else to do but sit in the puddle she had woken up in, she started walking further towards the red glow.

After a few steps, she suddenly felt as if she was been pushed back, fears and doubts entered her mind, but she quickly pushed them aside. Thinking that she cannot stay here too long with the danger she and Naruto were in, she pushed forward against the unknown force. Eventually after walking for what seemed like hours, she came to what appeared to be giant metal gates a small piece of paper holding them shut with the words seal written on it in red writing.

Behind the gates was nothing but darkness, she slowly approached the gates trying to see if she could see anything behind them, suddenly she could make out two red eyes slowly coming towards her. She took a step back as a form with the red eyes came into view. A giant red fox with nine tails that swished back and fourth stood just behind the gates, the gates been the only thing between it and her. She just stood in awe admiring the beautiful form of the fox, its eyes were red and slitted, that was a bit scary to her but she had always loved foxes, its fur looked so smooth. The awe was visible upon her face, then after a few seconds she suddenly realised that there was a giant fox in front of her at least 50 times bigger than her, she took a step back, fear starting to mix in with her awe.

Kyuubi grinned showing his very sharp teeth, unintentionally scarring the girl and making her jump back, before she had stood completely without fear, now she was shying away from him, her fear so obvious he could smell it in the air. At least she had not pissed herself from fear yet. "Do not be afraid child, come closer we need to talk"

Hinata stopped moving for a second and looked up into the Kyuubi's red eyes "Where am I, who are you fox-san?" she asked trying to hide her fear.

"Your dieing, your clan is trying to kill you and my host. Your body is still alive for the moment although it will not last much longer. Seven years ago I attacked your village and was defeated by your leader, however he could not kill me so he sealed me in the boy that you have became friends with."

Hinata's look of fear changed into a look of surprise, "Your Naruto?"

"No, I am sealed within him, he does not know of my existence yet" Kyuubi replied, Hinata relaxed a bit the smell of fear leaving her as she came closer to the gates.

"I created a link to your mind, you showed friendship to my host and even now that you know of my existence you still seem to show friendship to him and surprisingly I can no longer smell fear from you for that you should be rewarded somewhat. Myself and Naruto are bound together for eternity either he will acknowledge me and merge with part of me becoming a true kyuubi or he will remain human until he dies with me alongside him, I wish to offer you a similar deal with some limitations however" Kyuubi looked at her examining all of her miniscule movements trying to determine her reaction, however she didn't say anything and just looked at him, her eyes indicating for him to continue. "She could of said something, she's not scared so why is she so quiet. Ah well it will be amusing to watch, the loudest brat I've ever met with the shyest one, it should keep me entertained for a while, if not annoy the hell out of me" he thought.

"What I offer you is a semi-merging, you will eventually become a fully fledged kyuubi, your power level and rate of growth will be limited by the boy and so will his to yours to an extent. You will no longer be fully human but neither will the boy if he accepts the merging. As a result you will have to leave the village until I am content that both of you can adequately defend yourselves, judging from your conversation yesterday there is no reason you should stay here anyway. You will also have to obey all of my orders no matter what they are. Finally, if you choose not to accept this offer, yours, the boys and my own chance of survival will be severely reduced. What is your decision?"

Hinata had her hands at her side, she was concentrating too much on her decision to start doing her usual habit of playing with her thumbs. On one hand if she accepted she would become a demon, hated by not only her entire family but the entire village as well, would that make her evil? On the other hand, if she accepted she would have Naruto. He had survived with all the hate and if they were together surely she could live with it too she would have someone by her side. She also could not stand the idea of Naruto having to face all of that alone. As long as she was not alone, she would be okay. The deciding factor of course was that if she didn't accept Narutos chances of survival would be reduced, and her chances of surviving if she didn't accept were little to none. Been a young child she completely forgot about the following orders part of the deal. Her father forced her to follow orders anyway so it wouldn't be any different to normal but she didn't consider the fact that kyuubi may hold grudges against the village that sealed him, and one day make her move against it. Then again her experiences within the village so far hadn't exactly gave her any reasons to stay loyal to the village of Konoha anyway. "Even if im no longer human, I can be with Naruto, he's my only friend I don't want to leave him so I accept kyuubi-san"

Kyuubi gave the girl in front of him an odd look, "So be it" he said as Red chakra slowly started seeping under the gates, creeping towards her. Upon reaching her feet, it slowly started wrapping around her and making its way up her body. It was burning her, she tried not to scream from the pain, instead making slight whimpering sounds. It eventually completely engulfed her, she screamed from the pain passing out as a smaller version of Narutos seal appeared just above her navel and whisker marks appeared on her face. She collapsed to the floor

-

Elsewhere, two chuunin were looking very unhappy, "I can't believe he didn't even notice it, we spent hours creating the perfect genjutsu to lure that brat off the cliff edge and to his death on the rocks below and he didn't even notice it. The all you can eat ramen stand was perfect it should have worked, a single bowl of ramen caught him last time, how can an all you can eat ramen stand not work." Muttering curses at Naruto and asking the gods why their perfect plan did not work, the older one looked just as unhappy, "we'll get him tomorrow".