Chapter 4, Changes

Author's notes: Hi everyone, hope you haven't missed me too much  I was planning on finishing this chapter when in Scotland, but I finished during a 2 hours long wait for my train to arrive at the station. As always, I want to know if you find any big eyesores in my story, like huge grammar mistakes or the likes. Don't point out lore errors, as I have said so many times. This is my story

Well, enjoy. I'll post this thing and be done with it. Then I will sit down and have a nap, waiting for the train to arrive again. See you in Chapter 5!

Hinata, still not believing what had just happened, touched her lips with her fingers and looked at them, as if they could offer an opinion on what had just happened and if it was for real. She looked at Naruto, who was smiling at her, eyes glistening. She lost all sense of dignity and flung herself at him, embracing him in a hug, making him fall sideways into the grass.

"Ouch, hey, Hinata!" He tried sitting up, but Hinata wouldn't let him. She felt as if she was going to explode, her heart beating so loud that she could swear that Naruto would soon notice. "Haha, let me go! Calm down already, you're crushing my chest."

She didn't. She just continued hugging him, tears of happiness running down her face. She was hugging Naruto. She felt his warmth against her, felt his scent, felt as if she could sense his very soul. And she didn't feel embarrassed… Or weak… She felt happy, secure. She knew that nothing bad could happen now. This is what she had longed for all these years. Naruto actually liked her… No, loved her. It was too good to be true!

She remembered the pain she had felt when she had thought that he didn't and she realized that this would only be the beginning of a very difficult time. For both of them. "Naruto…" She said aganst his chest. He had stopped with his playful attempts at "getting away" and had embraced her instead.

"Yes?"

"I love you." She had said it, just like that. She couldn't believe it. She didn't even stutter.

Hinata looked up at him, her beautiful white eyes fixed at his blue. "I love you too." He said, meeting her gaze for a while, smiling, but then turned his head away and looked out over the plain. They sat there for a while, enjoying each other's company in silence, watching the butterflies fly from flower to flower, watching the grass bend in the wind. After a while Naruto turned to face her again. Grinning, just like the Naruto she knew.

Hinata closed her bedroom door behind her and gently sat down on her bed. Her head was full of thoughts on what had happened earlier. Naruto and she were finally together, and she planned to keep it that way forever. She smiled ruefully when she remembered how they had sat there, under the oak, and talked for hours. About Hinata, mostly. She had tried to ask him about himself, but he didn't have much to tell and nothing that she didn't already know.

He talked about some of his missions though, like when he had saved an entire village from Gato, his army and his two mercenaries, Zabuza and Hakku. It was obvious that he wasn't telling her everything, especially when he told her about the mirror fight with Hakku. He had told her about Sasuke's "death", and that how that had made him feel. He had told her that the anger had given him that final edge needed to break through the mirror jitsu. But Hinata knew from Naruto's description of Haku that he wouldn't be careless enough to loose just because Naruto got a burst of adrenaline. Naruto was keeping something from her. She knew she should be angered of this but no one knew Naruto better than she did, save himself, and she knew that he was either protecting someone, or maybe her, by not telling.

Hinata looked around her room. It was the same as when she left earlier, a bed with white clothing against the eastern wall, a closet and a toilet door on the western wall and the entrance to the room at the southern wall. On the northern wall there was a window overlooking the Hyuga compound below. She rose from the bed and went to look out the window. It was almost dark; she and Naruto had talked for hours. She had told him about her dream, about her family, and her troubles with being the heiress of Hyuga. He had been nodding, smiling, laughing, growling angrily, and had even been asking questions of his own. His undivided attention had made her blush, and he had laughed at her, kissing her. That time she had been prepared, and had kissed back, making her blush even more.

"Ouch, that burnt," he had said, pretending her hot face had burnt him. This hadn't made her blush any better at all.

She smiled too herself, feeling the butterflies within her as she thought of this. She never wanted that feeling to end. She wanted it to be like this forever. Yet she was the heiress though. Her father would have to approve of Naruto somehow, otherwise she couldn't marry him. Well, she could, but then her father would never speak to her again. The smile disappeared from her face as feelings of guilt once again clouded her spirits. He would never approve of Naruto. Hinata didn't know why, but he seemed to dislike Naruto every bit as much as every other adult in the village. Maybe it was because he was such a loud mouth? Hinata didn't know. Whatever it was that made him so disgusting in the eyes of the adult Konoha, she didn't want him to change. Her father was the one who would have to change, and if he didn't, she would marry Naruto anyway. "To hell with the heritage!" Naruto would have said.

In the streets below her, people from the branch families moved about their business, never giving her a single thought. There was a hate, a malcontent, growing among some of the lesser families. Jealousy her father said. Yet he also said that most branch families knew their place, that it should be considered an honor to wear the seal of a branch family. Hinata though, she understood them. If she ever became the leader of Hyuga she would change that old tradition, freeing every newborn branch family child from the seal. At least those whose parents wished it. There were of course those who felt honored of the trust the main family had in their abilities to defend them. Otherwise the main family would have been overthrown already.

She pulled down the curtains and left the room. She had forgotten to pull them down earlier, and the final hour of sunlight would turn her room into a hot spring sauna if she didn't close them. She went towards the kitchen, and found Hiashi and Hanabi sitting at the table, sipping their tea. Hiashi said nothing, nor did Hanabi, being an exact image of her father, sitting next to him on one side of the table. Both had their eyes closed.

Hinata had eaten the rice buns Naruto had made for her, but that felt a long time ago. Her stomach growled in protest. She took some dumplings that had been left for her, and sat down on the opposite side of the table. Even with their eyes closed, Hinata felt as if they were staring at her. She shifted uncomfortably, yet begun to eat none the less.

"Neji-kun said that you left without telling him again, Hinata." Hiashi said, still with his eyes closed. "Where have you been?" Hinata tensed, hoping that he didn't know the answer, even if he wanted her to think so. That's why he and Hanabi had been waiting for her. They had been waiting to tell her off.

"At the plains," Hinata answered quietly, looking down on the last dumpling on the plate. She had lost her appetite.

"Ah," Hiashi said. "Training, I presume?"

Hinata felt herself relax and she had to fight hard not to sound relieved. "In a way, yes." She had been training. In kissing. Although she wouldn't tell him that. "I am improving, too."

"Ah, very good." Hiashi took another sip of tea, and then opened his eyes, nailing her with his gaze. "Very good indeed. Next time, you're telling Neji where you're off to, Hinata." He sounded as if he was stating fact rather than giving her orders.

"Y-Yes, father." Hinata inclined her head and almost ran from the table. Hiashi closed his eyes again and took another sip of the tea.

"You don't need to hide, Neji." He said to the room at large. Hanabi jumped, as if surprised, but didn't open her eyes either. "She's your protégé after all."

"I am sorry, Hiashi-sama, but my presence would only unnerve her." He emerged from the shadowy corner and into the light. Hiashi had opened his eyes and eyed him appraisingly. Neji knew that Hinata feared him, thinking that he was somehow out to kill her. Of course, he understood her, given he had tried to kill her in times when he was young and… foolish. He shook his head to himself. That fear was unfortunate, as it made his future task so much harder, but he must find a way to convince her that he wasn't the man she thought he was.

Hiashi stood up and Hanabi did the same. "From now on I want you to keep a closer eye on her. If you don't want her to know, then fine, by all means sneak. This means that you will be too occupied for more lessons, and to tell the truth, I cannot teach you anymore. Therefore I hereby release you from my tutorage and declare you a full fetched bodyguard. I almost regret doing this, you have been a great, intelligent, strong, respectful and active student. Some times I wish you had been born in Hinata's place."

Neji bowed. "As you wish, Hiashi-sama." He left his room and made his way towards Hinata's bedroom. So, he wasn't Hiashi's pupil anymore? Good. He knew his duties. He wasn't a trainee anymore; he was a body guard, in both name and soul alike. He smiled as he remembered how he had once been so long ago now. An ignorant fool. His father had just fulfilled his duty, and had done so willingly. He had never wanted to believe in that, blaming brainwashing or torture for his "willingness." He had refused to believe that he would freely leave him alone in this world. Yet he had. And Neji had angrily tried to deny that sacrifice and Had attempted to kill one of the persons his father had sacrificed himself to protect. Even now he felt ashamed of himself. What a cry baby he had been.

Three years of tutorship from Hiashi had changed that. He honoured his father's decision now. In fact he had longed for swearing his oath to Hinata, especially since he had first come to realise that this is what his father would have wanted if he was alive today. He would not want him to become a vengeful killer, killing his own kin just to achieve his own selfish goals. He smiled to himself as he heard Hinata in her bedroom. He closed his eyes, but didn't activate his Byakugan in case she was getting ready for a shower or something. Instead, he used his enhanced sense of hearing to try and located her exact position without using the Byakugan. He listened carefully. He heard the sound of cloth against cloth, rubbing against each other, tiny fibres loosening as they did this. She was sitting in her bed, with clothes on, and was moving about carelessly which told him that she wasn't aware of his presence. A rustling sound told him that she held a piece of paper in her hands, looking at something, or maybe reading something.

Hiashi had once told him the importance of not putting all your trust to the Byakyugan. "Even the white eye can deceive you." He had told him. "Do not trust it blindly." At first he couldn't understand this, but then he had fought Rayga, the thunder ninja and former member of Azuki, and his "eyes". Now he had trained his hearing to an extent that it was almost as good as Byakugan in close ranges. He readied himself, and tightened his robes. Then he knocked on the door, three gentle knocks.

Hinata heard the knocks and quickly rose to hide the photograph of Naruto under her pillow. Her father never came in here, not since her mother had died, and Hanabi always kept her distance. She wondered why anyone would want to talk to her in here, and why they showed her the respect of knocking. She slid the door open a bit, just to see who was there. When she recognised Neji, a black hand of fright gripped at her heart. As always, the black, all-consuming fear made it impossible for her to think straight. Her mammal brain told her to run, run as fast as she could. She shut the door in Neji's face. She forced herself to be calm. He couldn't hurt her, not this close to her father. Not unless Hiashi had ordered Neji too… No! Her father would not do that kind of thing. She felt ashamed for even thinking of the possibility. Her father had probably sent Neji because he knew of her fears. Maybe it was a test… One that she would fail of course.

"Hinata-sama?" Neji asked through the door. "Are you having a shower? If you are, I can come back later…"

Hinata opened the door, looking down into the floor rather than meeting his eyes. "N-Neji-sama…"

What happened then she would remember all her life. Neji, her greatest fear in this world, slowly got down on his knees; put his arms in front of him and his forehead against the wooden floor. She could do nothing but stare at him with disbelief, all her fear temporarily gone. What was he..?

"Hinata-sama." Neji said with his cool voice, making her stop her trail of thoughts. His face was still pressed against the floor. "I hereby swear my loyalty to you, Hyuga Hinata. I will protect you, or die trying. I will follow you, or die trying. I will obey you in all things, or die in dishonor. That is my duty, and that which is my duty is my life. I will protect you and your name, through hardship and glory, through sadness and happiness, through night and day. Through life and death, I am yours. Forever, Hinata-sama."

She stood there, paralyzed, not knowing what to say. There was no standard body guard oath that all body guards swore. Each body guard had made their own oath, and that was something sacred that could never be uttered more than once. She couldn't believe this. She had known that this day would come, when she would have to accept her royal body guard. Her father's body guard had been her uncle and Neji's father, and since then Hiashi had never bothered employing another one. Or rather, no one had offered him their oath. She looked at him, but he was still bowing before her, so she couldn't see his eyes. Was this some trick? Was he trying to lure her into accepting his service so he could use a loophole in his oath to kill her? Or was his oath sincere? His robe was still white, so he had just recently been released by her father, maybe yesterday or even today. Once she had accepted, if she accepted, he would be bound to her forever, and as a proof of his unyielding obedience she would choose his uniform and weapons for him. That weapon would become his fists, and the uniform would be his skin.

"I-I…" She tried to think of something ceremonial to say, but couldn't and kept quiet. Neji didn't say a thing, he just waited for her to either decline or accept. Was he sincere? If then, what would she do with her own body guard? She didn't want him to become a slave, she didn't want to keep him as a bird in a cage. "Neji-sama… I… I cannot do this, I…"

"Hinata-sama," Neji said, almost pleading. "Do not turn me away. Please."

"But…" She whispered quietly and hesitated. For him to plead… Why did he want to be her body guard so bad? Did he have other motives? Maybe he still wanted revenge? "I... don't like keeping p-people in cages, Neji-sama."

Neji visibly tensed, yet relaxed again almost instantly. "A bird in a cage," he mumbled, almost as if talking to himself. "A cage can never be broken, not until one dies. I didn't realise it before, but Naruto… Naruto was a bird in a cage too, just as I was. We are all birds in cages; it's just that our cages take different forms. Naruto… He showed me that freedom isn't the ability to escape fate. Freedom is… He showed me that even a bird in a cage can spread its wings and feel the breeze underneath them. He showed me that freedom is something you feel, not something you own. I am a bird in a cage, and I have always been. The only real choice man has is if he will let the cage conquer him. Or if he will do his best to spread his wings and feel free nonetheless. I have made this choice, Hinata. I have spread my wings. Please, do not wing clip me."

Hinata looked down at him. He sounded so… Zealous. It was as if he… Admired Naruto, one he had once despised because of him being a drop out. Yet, maybe that was what had changed him. Maybe being defeated by a drop out was the best that had ever happened to him, Maybe that had got him thinking. A genius loosing to a drop out was impossible according to him at that time. He was proved wrong. Maybe he had actually changed? Nevertheless, he had sworn an oath to her, and she had to accept it or decline it. What should she do? If she declined, what impact would it have on Neji, who wanted to do this in order to finally prove that he could defeat his cage? What impact would it have on his soul if she broke it's newly spread wings? There really wasn't much of a choice. What would Naruto have done? He would have thought of some compromise.

Hinata didn't want a body guard, or a servant. She wanted to be normal, and having Neji following her around all the time, staring at people, was not a step in the right direction. Yet, she also wanted to be brave enough to do things that were not normal.

"I…"

"Hinata, please…"

She drew a deep breath. It was all happening to quick. Naruto, Neji… What would Naruto think of her if she took Neji as her body guard? No matter what may have happened between the two, Naruto had no love for Neji, whom he saw as a cry baby who whined about destiny all the time. She released her breath. She wished she had Naruto's courage. If he were here… But he isn't, her inner voice told her. So make your own decision.

"I…" She closed her eyes and sat down on one knee, laying her hand upon Neji's head. She realised she hadn't been this near to him since the day they were fighting. She took another deep breath, the final one, she decided. "I… I accept your oath…" She tried to think of something else to say. "And I hold you to it until I release you from it or death takes you." She blushed. That was the best she could think of? Well, at least it bore some resemblance to a ritual of some sort.

Neji sighed heavily and straightened himself. His face was calm, yet she could judge by his pose that he was actually quite relieved, happy even. "Then what is your first command, Hinata-sama?"

She felt really strange, being called Hinata-sama all the time. Yet he was her body guard now, and she couldn't expect him to call her anything else, less formal. She looked at her hands. He would have to keep quiet about anything she said to him. He had to obey every thing she said. She was shaking. Too much of a change for one day, and she felt as if this was only the beginning of a huge change, a change that lurked behind the corner ahead. Naruto was changing, Neji was changing… She was changing. She hoped that these changes would pass soon and that her life would go back to normal.

Naruto… The thought of him made her blush a bit. She wanted him to be here. Not so that he could protect her against the changes, but because she wanted to hug him and kiss him again. She could still remember her tingling sensation as his lips touched hers… She shook her head. "Neji-san…"

"Please, call me Neji or by my title, Hinata-sama."

She nodded. "Neji, why do you want to become my body guard? Really?" She looked him straight into the eyes. He looked back, and after a while it became obvious to him that she didn't really want to look him in the eyes. She was probably trying to seem more secure than she was. Therefore he averted his eyes instead, since it was not in his place as a body guard to stare her down. Her body guard… He smiled.

"Why, Hinata-sama?"

"Yes."

"Because this is what my father would want me to do." Hinata didn't say anything, maybe she wasn't satisfied, or embarrassed? So he continued. "I didn't realise it before, but now I have grown older… And smarter. My father sacrificed himself for the main family. And for the entire Hyuga clan. For Konoha. And for me. He, as I, was born from the branch families. But he didn't spend his life crying over his situation. He did the best of the situation, and when the time came, he willingly sacrificed his own life. To call it unfair or wrong casts a shadow on his sacrifice, a sacrifice he made for us all."

He looked up into her eyes. She jumped in surprise and blushed as she realised this, hiding behind her fingers again. "That is why I will spend my entire life as your body guard. To honour his sacrifice, and to try and undo the wrong I did you at the chuunin exam." He inclined his head. "I will begin now, by saying that I am sorry for trying to attack you after the match was over. I am also sorry for using unnecessary force during the fight. I hated you then. I was jealous and foolish. I am sorry, Hinata-sama."

Hinata looked at him. He actually meant every single word he said. It felt as if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulder, and the fear wasn't as intense anymore. "Thank you, Neji." She pit a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Thank you. Tomorrow we will go and get you a new uniform and weapon."

Naruto put on two oven mitts and carried the hot ramen cup towards the kitchen table. He gently put it down and cast a suspicious glance towards the door. He didn't think Hinata would kick the door in again, but you could never be careful enough when dealing with ramen. He had managed to straighten out the remains of the hinges and hung the door back in its frame. It still had a huge crack from the jouken hit, and the frame was barely holding together, but he had managed to force it in place with brute force and the help of two shadow clones.

He sat down at the table and thought about how he was going to buy a new door tomorrow. He had a lot of money, since he never ate anything other than cup noodles and his clothes was very cheap, and he always saved any spare money. He was actually quite rich, although he didn't think of himself as such. He bent down over the ramen, drawing a deep breath through his nose, feeling the hot, spicy fumes pass through his nose and airways. He sighed and put his eating sticks in ready position. He closed his eyes and begun his pre ramen meditation mantra..

Lamen, lamen, lamen, lamen, lamen, lamen, LAMEN, LAMEN, LAMEN.

He opened his eyes. "Itadakimasu!" He dug in and started eating, but soon realised he was chewing nothing but air. He looked down on the table, but couldn't find the cup of ramen anywhere. Also, his eating sticks had gone missing! He looked under the table. No, not there either. It wasn't on the floor so he hadn't tipped it over. He looked around his room. A ramen thief? Could it be that someone could be so devious as to steal his beloved ramen? And his eating sticks? There was no one in sight.

"Mm, tasty ramen," Said a voice from behind. Naruto froze. Could it be that..? He slowly turned around.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto yelled and rose from his chair so quick it fell over. "You… You…"

"Yo, youngster." Kakashi said and waved. "I haven't seen you in a while and thought that I would come and see you and…"

"Lies! You just caught the scent of ramen and went to get a free meal!" Naruto clenched his fists. He couldn't believe that he had eaten it all so fast, and without removing his mask. He remembered his poor ramen and the new eating sticks, the salty taste of wood, the ramen glistening in the sun light, the heavenly taste when he put them in his mouth, the spicy heat as they slid down his throat… The empty cup was standing with the eating sticks just… Standing in it, like a… Like trash! Ramen and eating sticks deserved more respect than that! They deserved care and a proper burial! "My… Ramen…"

"Easy, easy." Kakashi smiled and hold his hands infront of him, sweat running down his face. At least his one visible eye smiled. The rest of his face was hidden behind the mask as usual. "I really did come to see you, you know."

"Yeah, right." Naruto relaxed. He had lost his ramen, but he could just make some new. Maybe Kakashi had come to train him? He couldn't let that opportunity go just because he was cross. He would never forget this, but the prospect of training was more alluring than the thought of revenge. "Then why did you come?"

Kakashi, who had been sitting in the window, jumped down on the floor and straightened. "Well, I'm here because Tsunade-sama told me actually." Kakashi raised the chair and had a seat. "She told me to inform you that you are one of the only persons at your age who is still a genin."

"I know that!" Naruto protested. "It's not like I have forgotten…"

"Let me finish," Kakashi interrupted. "She told me to tell you that the chuunin exam is coming up next week, and that she hasn't seen you train even once in a month. Also you haven't done any missions lately. I, as your sensei, was told to get you in shape before then, so here I am… It will be a nice change from all the S-rated missions I have been doing lately… Finally a challenge!"

"Great, so you are...!" Naruto stopped. "Wait… Getting me in shape is more challenging than an S-rated mission?!"

Kakashi didn't answer. He was inspecting him, arms crossed. His visible eye was serious again, and Naruto decided not to argue with him. He leaned forward, still staring at him, and Naruto felt a bit nervous. What was he looking at?

"Naruto…"

"What is it?" He leaned forward and started inspecting Kakashi, just to get back at him, and it wasn't like arguing. Not really.

"Your clothing is not fit for a ninja, do you know that?" Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Kakashi raised his hand and quieted him. "You don't have a chance to become a chuunin in that clothing. The judges decide if you are worthy depending on your appearance. To be accepted as a chuunin, it's not enough to be skilled at fighting and yelling. That isn't fit for a ninja. You must also look skilled. Or confident. Or both."

"Are you implying that I don't look confident?"

Kakashi sighed and looked him straight in the eye. "No, I'm telling you that you look like a loud mouthed kid who doesn't know anything about camouflage or stealth, and thus is not fitting for any mission above c-ranking."

Naruto sacked. "You don't need to be so mean…"

Kakashi laughed. "I'm not mean, I'm here to help you." He put his hand in Naruto's hair and roughed it up a bit. "Had I been mean, I wouldn't have cared, I would have just laughed at you. But I really want you to become a chuunin. Sakura became chuunin on her second try, and even though you excelled in skill, your appearance made the judges disapprove your promotion to chuunin. That's why I am here and not some other messenger. I'm here to get you a new set of clothes that is better fit for a ninja."

"But…" Naruto looked down on his clothing. "I like these clothes!"

"I know," Kakashi said and rose from the chair. "They have their… charm. But they aren't exactly good for these environments in terms of camouflage. Besides, They are far too hot, which makes you loose a lot of energy just to sweat and keep your muscles cool temperate, and you tend to smell rather bad after a few days mission…"

"Hey!"

"… So tomorrow morning I will come back and fetch you at 10 AM and I will take you to the armoury and a clothes shop. See you then!"

"Wait!" Naruto yelled and raised a hand to try and get a hold of him. "Who are the other ones who…"

But with a wisp of smoke he disappeared. Naruto stood there for a while, his arm half ways raised, and then he let it fall and growled to himself. "Damn him!" He went to the window to clear away the remains of the ramen cup and try to give the broken ramen spirit a proper burial. He cleaned the ramen mug and put it in the separate trash bin for ramen cups, which he had far away from the other, stinky wastes. He laid the eating sticks on the metal stand he used for these occasions and drenched them in etanol and set them on fire, watching them burn. He took the ashes and threw them out the window, spreading them to the wind.

After this standard procedure he went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He looked into the mirror and thought about how he looked. Blond hair, blue eyes, a broad face and six wrinkles in his skin that people said resembled whiskers. Tooth paste was running from the side of his mouth and he laughed to himself. Ridiculous. He spat out the tooth paste and turned his attention to his clothing. He liked his clothing, and he didn't really feel like changing. The orange overall fit him, it was a part of his character. He put his hand against the small of his back and pushed forward, spinning around, inspecting himself from all angles. Well, no matter how good it looks, Kakashi-sensei is still right, he thought. If you wanted to hide in green terrain, orange wouldn't be your first choice.

But then, who in his age had camouflaged clothing? Not even Neji had camouflaged clothing. Of all the people he knew, only Shikamaru and Lee had them, and Lee just had them because he liked the colour. He tried to figure himself in the green body sock Lee used to wear. He couldn't imagine it properly, since every time his mental image had just as thick eyebrows as Lee. And a blond bowl cut. He shivered. No, he would never wear that kind of outfit. He left the bathroom and went into his bedroom, stopping a short while to make sure he had barred the window properly, just to make sure Kakashi didn't come back and steal the rest of his ramen supply. He couldn't do much about the front door at the moment, so he didn't bother inspecting that.

He closed the bed room door behind him, undressed and went to bed. He though about Hinata for a while and remembered how they had kissed. His first kiss. It had been fantastic, but at the same time strange. He didn't know what had gone into him. When he had realised the misunderstanding, he had tried desperately to find a proper joke to sooth things out for him. Instead he had leant forward and kissed her! He turned around and looked out the window, smiling to himself. The sky was orange as the sun shed its last light over Konoha, the shadows and darkness nagging at its tail, yet too afraid to make the final attack. They were headed for darker times, and had been for quite a while. But this night would still be almost as bright as the night before, so it wouldn't be completely dark yet. He turned around again, staring at the wall between him and the kitchen.

Hinata had slept in his sleeping bag the night before. He tried hard to remember the feeling of her arms around him, the whistling noise from her nose, the feeling of her chest against his back as it pushed against him when she breathed, her scent, the sweet yet spicy scent that had made his entire body tingle with excitement. He grunted and tried not to think about it. He would not be a pervert! He stared at the ceiling and tried to concentrate on the kunai holes in it. Think of something else, think of something else!

From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of his dart board with the hand drawn Orochimaru nailed to it. By now you could barely make out what the picture had once resembled, due to all the kunai and shuriken holes. He shook his head. Orochimaru had destroyed hundreds of lives in Konoha during the attack, he had killed The Fourth, and he had taken his brother from him. Naruto clenched his fist. He would bring him back! Sasuke wasn't gone forever! He relaxed. Well, at least the perverted intentions were gone. He sighed and closed his eyes, suddenly tired. It had been a long day, and he hadn't slept properly the night before, so maybe it wasn't all too weird. He yawned and stretched, scratched his left leg and fell asleep.

Naruto looked around. He was in a long, seemingly unending corridor, with several openings on each side. He couldn't remember how he had got here, or where here was. He tried thinking harder, but couldn't remember a thing. Besides, who was he anyway?

A slow, steady dripping from the pipes in the ceiling gave his memory the required jolt, and instead of confusion, he felt the old fears returning. He looked around. Once again he had the feeling he was being summoned, not the other way around. Damn that demon! Naruto thought to himself and took the first to the right.

With a bright flash of light he emerged In front of the huge wooden gates that kept the Ninetails Demon Fox imprisoned. From within the darkness on the other side of the gate he heard the dark voice of the demon fox.

"So, asleep again, are we?" the demon sniggered. "So, you're here at my lair again, little boy. Or shall we say 'young man'?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Hyuga Hinata, daughter of Hyuga Hiashi, of course." The demon said, pretending to be innocent. "Don't tell me you have forgotten I read your thoughts? How do I know? I read your thought's, as I have told you. Never mind that though. It has been a while since we met. 23 days, the way I count it. And you have never even thought of visiting me."

Naruto lauged. "No, why would I? You are the reason why everyone hates me in Konoha. If it hadn't been for you, I would have had parents, friends, and a normal life. I don't want to visit you. Ever."

The demon went quiet, then he started to laugh quietly, the same way as always, low at first, and then rising, and rising, and rising, and rising like thunder until Naruto's ears hurt. He tried to cover them, but to no use. The sound wasn't real, just like his body wasn't real in this place, and thus covering your ears here was pointless.

"Am I the reason? Do you really think so Naruto?" The demon stopped laughing. "No, Naruto. If you hadn't been picked someone else would. It's in the Nature of humans to hate those they think inferior to themselves."

Naruto shrugged. "But it's also in our nature to fight against instincts and nature. And that is something I have done my entire life. I guess I could go around being bitter, hating the villagers of Konoha for hating me, but that would be their victory and my defeat."

The demon was quiet for a while, and Naruto looked once again tried to glare at the demon who was hiding in the darkness. "Do you, really believe that, little boy?" the demon said, not showing even the slightest bit of emotion. "If you did, you wouldn't hate anyone. And I know you do. You hate Orochimaru, you hate me, you used to hate Hyuga Neji, among other people. You even used to hate Uchiha Sasuke. No. You don't really believe that."

Now it was Narutos time to be silent for a while, trying to think of something to say. The demon waited patiently, much to Naruto's surprise. "I… Well, as you said, it's in our nature to hate, just as it is not I your nature to love. But we humans… at least I… I don't want to hate, and I try my best not to, I really do. I always cheer for the weak, because they are like me… And I love them all. I hate those who cannot accept these things, like Neji and Sasuke. I hate those who try to suppress the weak ones, I hate those who think that humans was born in one way and cannot change." He paused, but the demon didn't say anything. "I don't hate the villagers of Konoha, because I know how it feels to be hated, and I know how it feels to hate. That's why I try to avoid hating people, and no matter how evil they may seem, I always hope there is something good deep inside of them. Because I feel sorry for them if they don't. If they go around hating people all their life, they will never know love. And I know how it feels to be loved, and I know how it feels to love. That's why I want people to love each other, not hate each other… Man, I really sound stupid don't I?"

The demon laughed. "Well, you don't sound too much like the ordinary loud mouthed Naruto. But I think that you are right. It feels really weird…" The demon went silent. "I feel… I don't know what it is, I have never had this feeling before… I feel… floating."

"Floating?" Naruto asked, confused. "What, like weightless?"

"I don't know. It's a kind of fluttering sensation in my abdomen…" The demon sighed. "It just felt as if what you just told me made sense. A lot more sense than I have heard over the last thousand years. Thank you."

Naruto took a surprised step backwards "..What? What did you just say?"

The demon appeared, but he wasn't like before. He had a sad stroke around his eyes, and Naruto felt as if looking into thousands of years of misery. The flaming breath was just a flicker of its former might, and the eyes, looking at the wet floor, weren't the furnaces of infernal heat they used to be. "Naruto… You really are something different." Naruto kept looking into the demon's eyes, trying to find a trace of deceit or lies, but couldn't find anything. These eyes were far worse than the evil ones. Naruto could identify his own pain in these eyes and it made his stomach curl. "I know that feeling now. I remember it from your memories. Sadness and happiness at the same time, like the feeling you get when thinking of Sasuke." I remember laughing at this. I used to think that if someone betrays you, especially he is important to you, hate him and kill him. Forget about what you used to feel, hunt him down and mercilessly rip him to shreds… That's what I wanted to tell you. But now I realise that I have never experienced such a thing. No one has ever been important to me, because I have never been important to anyone. I have never trusted anyone as you trusted Sasuke, but you... You have shown me lots of things, little boy. I used to view trust as a weakness. I hunted down and killed my own siblings and mother for sport. They trusted me, and I killed them so that their trust would not bring me down with the same weakness… I am… Not like you at all. I used to think so, but I am not. You lack my hate… Or rather, I lack your love and loyalty."

The demon sighed; an enormous sigh that sent a hot rush of air at Naruto that burned away is eyebrows. He turned around and crept back into the darkness, leaving Naruto standing there in the damp darkness, looking into the black void behind the prison gate. He thought about what the demon had just said, and once again tried to find some hint of deceit, some resemblance of a lie. He just couldn't find any, no matter how hard he tried. Well, that didn't necessarily mean there was none, just that he couldn't detect them.

"Naruto," the demon said from the darkness, making him flinch and break his chain of thought. "This girl you met today… Hyuga Hinata, right? Do you… love her?"

Naruto growled and glared into the darkness. "Those are private thoughts, idiot. I promise you, if you…"

The demon chuckled. "Yes, yes, I've heard and seen it all before, little boy. Please answer my question."

Naruto continued glaring into the darkness and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's none of your business! You have no right to ask. Besides, why would I tell you? If you ask, maybe you don't know. I would prefer if that was the case."

The demon appeared again, smiling. Usually this would be quite terrifying, since he showed his perfect line of huge, razor-sharp teeth as he did so, but the smile reached his eyes this time, and Naruto didn't even flinch at all. Well, almost. "I know lots of things, little boy. I know all about humans, since I have studied you the greater part of my immortal life. Which organs you need to live and how long you can last without them, the quickest way to dispose of you, how fast you can run, your psyche, what parts of you are edible… Even how two humans become three, and what they do to achieve it..."

Naruto blushed. "I don't want to know, ok?"

The demon cocked his eyebrows. "You don't?"

Naruto laughed. "Well, I do… But not from you." He shook his head. "That is something I will have to find out for myself."

The demon nodded. "I knew you would say that. I just wanted to offer my help…"

"Well… Thanks." Naruto said reluctantly.

The demon smiled gratefully. "No, thank you."

Naruto squirmed uncomfortably. He felt embarrassed of the sincere gratefulness. "Um… No problem…" he blushed again. "Eh, If you are really sincere of repenting your crimes… Can you at least tell me your name?"

"I have no name. Just call me Kyubi, if you like." The demon smiled again. "Well, I guess you want to go back to your ordinary dreams again. I will see you again shortly..." The world… shifted. Naruto looked around, but the walls were already blurry and he couldn't fix his gaze. His view started to fade into a bright light, and the last thing Naruto could remember before slipping into an unconscious, dreamless sleep, was the Demon's last words. "Oh, and Naruto? Be careful."