Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy VII; they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Square Enix respectively.

The Incomplete

A chill traveled down her spine, but it wasn't from the stale hospital air. It came from the eerily quiet boy she was watching from the door. He sat on the bed, silent as death and eyes hazed over, staring into nothing. She had never seen the boy like this, never. It never even occurred to her that he could act like this. It was basically considered blasphemy to say his name and "silent" in the same sentence. And yet there he sat, a shadow of the vibrant boy he was before that mission. He'd been like this since he had woken up a week ago. Before that he had been unconscious for three days. In total, it had been around a week and a half since he was brought back from the valley of the end near death. Around a week and a half since his teammate proved himself to be a traitor by trying to kill him. It worried Tsunade greatly that he was so unresponsive. He had not spoken a word or even acknowledged anyone since he had woken up. He just sat there, looking at nothing. No matter what was going on around him, even when they moved him to change the sheets and to change his bandages, no response. None at all. Not even his friends could get him out of this, they all had tried. They were lucky that he was relaxed enough to get water and soft food into him, she hadn't wanted to keep him on a IV after he had woken up. Something was wrong and she didn't like it.

Jiraiya thought that it was the battle with Sasuke that caused this, the loss it meant. Perhaps that was part of it, he could be traumatized mentally from it. After all, his best friend had tried to kill him from the looks of it, who wouldn't be a little shaken. But this was far from "a little shaken", this was bordering on being placed in a mental hospital. She'd checked his head several times, looking for any signs of physical damage but never found any. Tsunade was half tempted to ask Inoichi to get into the kids head, but she threw that idea out. If he came back to himself during or after that, she'd lose all trust he had in her. It broke her heart to see her little brother in such a state but there wasn't much she could do other than pray and keep an eye on him. It had been decided that he would remain in the hospital until he showed signs that he was getting better, no matter how long it took. If she sent him home, who knows what would happen, at least here there would be eyes on him all day and all night. He'd be safe. Now if only she could shake the feeling that any threats to him wouldn't be from the outside, but within him.

When she had first seen him awake and sitting up, she had thought for a brief moment that she had stepped back in time. Despite the age difference, the look on the face was the same. It reminded her of when Orochimaru had defected. She had been on a mission at the time, she had arrived home to hear word from Sensei that one teammate was traitor and the other was hospitalized. Jiraiya had had that same look of nothingness on his face when she saw him in the hospital. He looked so broken and torn that she had actually hugged him, that was the only time her breasts didn't cause a reaction out of him. Tsunade wondered if perhaps that was part of what was keeping Naruto this way. Guilt, weakness, failure, those were the words Jiraiya had used to describe how he felt that day. After a few days they were changed to anger, sadness and betrayal. Finally, when he was released they were guilt, determination and desire. It took Jiraiya about three weeks in total to move on from the loss, around one week for him to start returning to his normal self. Naruto seemed to still be stuck in the "Failure" stage. She idly wondered how long it'd take for him to move on and start bringing sunshine to their lives again.

Sighing, she glanced at the clock mounted on the wall. It was late, the sun already setting. She walked over to the bed and placed her hands onto Naruto's shoulders. She gently pushed him to lay down before pulling the sheets over him. She then ran her fingers through his bangs and placed a kiss on his forehead before wishing him goodnight. She walked back to the door and switched off the light. Pausing in the doorway, she looked back to him again only to find that he was asleep. A small smile crept to Tsunade's lips; he didn't look so broken now. Shaking her head, she turned back around and stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind her.

"Get better soon gaki… it's quiet without you."

Time had stopped, life had stopped, the world had stopped, everything was frozen. He was trapped in nothingness. The last thing he remembered was being slammed headfirst into a rock by his former best friend. From there the world turned red, every sensation occurring to him as if through a thick blanket. Then there was a bright flash of light and finally, nothing. He felt nothing, smelled nothing, tasted nothing, saw nothing, and heard nothing. Well, to say he heard nothing would be wrong. He heard a voice, muffled at first, but it had been growing louder since. It was the voice of a woman. Soft, gentle and sultry, it seemed to wrap around him like fine silk. He felt the voice tug at him, as if beckoning him, to where he didn't know. The voice stirred things in his mind that were deeply buried. Memories he had long forgotten or stored so deep that he'd never find them. Voices that reminded him of pain and agony of the likes of which had not felt since he was a very small child. Visions of a chamber that brought him nothing but pain. That place, he never wanted to go back to that place. Never wanted to be subjected to that pain again. He resisted, tried to force the memories back to where they belonged but that voice stopped him. Without speaking a single word, that voice coaxed him to actually look at the memories, that it was safe. They were only memories, they couldn't hurt him anymore.

Watching, remembering, the pain seemed just as real as it did then. If he had had eyes, he knew he would be crying. He had been so small, so weak. The definition of defenseless. They had done so many things to him; they were burned into his infantile mind. Hatred bubbled inside him, how dare they do that to him! What gave them the right to do that to a child? Thankfully he had been saved. He had been lucky, he knew other children hadn't. He was the only one the Sandaime had brought out of there alive, all thanks to the fox sealed within his belly. He owed his Ojii-san everything, he had saved his life, but it was not without some repercussions. Naruto had never let anyone know, but every couple years or so, something on him would decay and fall off, only to be replaced by regeneration. Not only that, but he had sores covering his body, all of them constantly in a process of decay and regeneration. It was so painful; it felt as if he was rotting from the inside out. Instinctively he knew that something was missing, there had to be a way to stop it. The voice sounded again, louder still. The louder it became, the more familiar it was, like he had heard it before.

Thinking back, Naruto remembered the voice of a woman, hearing her back when he was young… in that lab. Her voice was the only comfort he had. That was it! The voice he was hearing was hers! But how… how was she in the nothingness with him, why could he not see her? Visions of the lab came to him again, the room appearing in its entirety. Before him stood the chamber he remembered, the one that meant pain. He then felt himself being pulled behind it, to where the computer systems that controlled it were located. Among the machines stood a similar chamber, only this one was covered unlike his which was transparent. A small viewing window was the only way to view its contents, and a plaque under that bore a name. He had never heard this name before, wasn't even sure how to pronounce it, but something told him it belonged to that voice.

Again she sang to him, bringing forth memories of his physical decay to the surface and his wish for it to end. The chamber, her chamber, the pain, all these things flashed in his mind. She could make it stop, she could fix him. He'd finally be free of that pain, but it meant returning to that nightmare-ish place! He was torn… his fears clashing with his needs. She called again, his desire to be stronger bubbling up. She could make him stronger… but that was unfair. He would earn his strength, he wouldn't be like Sasuke. She changed her tune, tugging on the memory of his promise to Sakura. To bring Sasuke home, he needed to be stronger to bring him home. More visions and feelings burst forth, one figuratively smacking him in the face. Incomplete… he had always felt as if something was missing. Like he was only half a person… this strength she promised would complete him? A tender song like caress across his mind was all the answer he needed. It wasn't cheating if it was meant to be his in the first place… it was his right to have it. With another caress and a tug, his vision began to clear, her voice chasing the darkness away. A gentle tug pulled him to face where the lab resided, but he moved no further. Fear chained him to his hospital bed, but they soon melted away.

He climbed out the window and down the side of the hospital building. Once he reached the ground he took off as if being pulled on a string. Naruto followed the sensation until he reached the entrance to Konoha's underground. Once it was pried open, he resumed following the string, the voice in his head growing stronger moment by moment. Soon he reached the lab, it was boarded off and abandoned. Once he was inside, everything burst to life, the machines around the lab turning on as if by remote command. Continuing on, he found himself in front of the covered chamber. He tried to look inside but the window was too high up. Looking at the plaque again, he sighed.

"Now what? I'm here!"

Her voice was so loud, it blocked out all other noise. He felt himself being pulled towards the clear chamber, the one he hated. He felt his hand hitting buttons and throwing switches without his command before he approached the now open door and stepped inside. Like a puppet on a string he had danced to her song. Finally understanding that this was the only way she could complete him, Naruto resigned and tried to block his terror. She promised no pain, he would sleep. He liked sleep; he was left alone when he slept. As the door to the chamber closed, he felt himself being wrapped in a tender embrace, her song soft and slow, like a mother trying to woo her child to sleep. It was an unfamiliar but welcome sensation. He closed his eyes knowing that when he opened them again, everything would be better. That he'll finally be able to earn the acknowledgment he craved.