After months of wait I bring you Left in Silence.

On with the show!

"Kurotsuchi-chan! Kuro-chan! N-no, no, no! Damnit!" Tears pricked out of the corners of Naruto's eyes as he stared into his crush's glazed souls, how her pupils stayed locked on him despite the sounds of kunai clashing above. He held her hand. They were cold. Numbed, blood seeped down her side while a kunai was lodged itself deep into her stomach.

Naruto gulped as tears slipped off his cheeks.

"P-please, please don't go," he pressed his forehead to hers, and in a whisper, "don't go. Please..."

Kurotsuchi eyes searched the blackness of the void set out in front of her. It was vast. Unyielding even. She squinted her eyes. Cold, but not uncomfortable.

Where was she?

She stepped forward a few. One more. Two more. A little bit further and she looked down. Black. She could feel her steps give progress but yielded none.

Kurotsuchi scowled at what was happening, wondering where everything went wrong.

Days had passed since Naruto was given to Kurotsuchi. The next after were spent being escorted outside Fire Country by the Hokage's personal ANBU. During which she tended to Naruto to resuscitate his health. Fresh vegetables from towns outside Konoha and game from travelling salesmen did the trick. But it had been an experience. Naruto had been fidgety, and she couldn't tell whether the jitters were coming from being near her, or the journey outside the village. Maybe excitement from good, healthy food?

She didn't know, so she comforted him. She slept with him to keep him warm. She talked cute nothings in his ear to reassure him. It was then she saw his confidence in it's pure dwindled stature. What little he had was with her and that was made all too clear when his hands would tremble at night at the sounds of animals scuttling in the brush became clear as day.

He felt weak, because inside Konoha mobility and knowing kept him moving, alive. A strong efficiency in escaping. Outside, his control was gone. That little bundle of comfort erased, vanished, arrivederci.

He was dependant on her, because of the kindness she showed then and now.

For she fought for him. The villagers wished for him to be damned to a cell for his life so as to grow stupid, to grow deformed in the dark, to become crippled. She had spent every waking moment with him to protect him from attacks both verbal and physical.

"Woah!" Kurotsuchi ducked as images flashed by like stretching screens on a tv, fast as light.

"Don't you touch a hair on his head or you will bleed!"

Her eyes widened and a jolt shot through her system as the images formed to show her… standing… arms out... Her thoughts were sent awry. What was this?!

Kurotsuchi gaped. She and the Tsuchikage stood protectively in front of Naruto who was sprawled on his back in a cold hollow alley. The time she remembered this happening was when the Tsuchikage and her were there to establish better relations between Iwa and Konoha. But they found Naruto. He had kiss marks from lipstick on his cheeks. He had trashed hair and a box to shelter under.

The way he cradled himself suggested something disgusting had happened to him.

Anger, or maybe a better choice of word would be outrage soured her mood then. At a closer look Kurotsuchi saw herself as… deathly. Her hair was frazzled at the injustice. Wild rage boiling in the pit of her stomach rose to her chest and she faintly remembered her cheeks blazing with anger. The darkness in her pupils looked a million miles deep with pinkish flames circling them like halos. A man stepped forward, telling them about how most everyone wanted the kid to get lost and in her anger she slapped him. If Kurotsuchi hadn't remembered herself doing that she would've called the bruise on his fat cheek a gross exaggeration.

The wind must've been milling wildly away because she did not remember him pissing himself. The smell alone would've tattooed it's fragrance into her brain. But there it was, right in front of her. Yet even so, now she chuckled a little seeing his beige pants darken like wet paper.

The next few minutes Kurotsuchi watched in bitter nostalgia. Her grandfather had picked up Naruto before they walked off to the hospital and shortly after the Hokage's office.

The day had started bright then yet ended bittersweet.

The images moved faster. Memories from long ago played like a movie, even the smell was not lost to her, along with the rush of the wind and the warmth of the sun and the thin haze of the days.

She blinked. Different pictures danced to her view. Naruto stood behind her, baggy pants down to his knees, his cheeks just a bit fuller, she possessed an aggressive facade. Her cheeks were as pink as her irises, brows knit tight in anger, her stomach heaved from yelling.

"You are all fools!" She yelled.

"And you're the little shitstain defending his scrawny ass!"

"Yu'll be'in the Shinigami's stomich for this!"

Crowds of people chanted obscenities against her like a tidal wave of needles. Tears budded in her eyes. She had been arguing with a woman who had been following them.

Molestation was her charge and she was groping Naruto from behind before Kurotsuchi's hand and jaw was forced. Soon a crowd followed and they sided indignantly with the woman.

It was too much. The woman must've known this would've happened, which is the only reason she was able to get away with it.

Hand in hand she grabbed Naruto before dashing off.

They didn't stop until they were in the Tsuchikage's apartment.

Kurotsuchi had never felt more like an outsider. Never in her wildest dreams…

She chanced a glance away from the memory. The image stopped and the picture froze. Switching from the screen to the palpable black around her and the serpentine stretch of pictures she noticed a luminous star. It shimmered and the images moved a frame. So that's where they were coming from.

Turning back to the screen, she focused back into her memory.

She'd asked around - parents and adults about their hatred. The bottomline was their lack of faith. They didn't believe. Naruto's seal was merely a vessel. No living being could hold such chakra. Only the Biju, so it was only rational for them to believe that Naruto was the Biju. Even GrandMaster's in the sealing arts made mistakes and altercations with seals happened now and then.

Rumors poisoned people's eyes and ears so they could spout only nonsense and rumor said that the Yondaime had used a jutsu he just created for the Kyuubi's imprisonment.

Kurotsuchi looked away again. She didn't agree with that then and now…

...It was ridiculous...

But, why was she here?

Suddenly, a low flash and generous diamonds of starlight drifted from the edges of the images. Danced they did around her, like leaves dancing in the wind they twisted and twirled. Pixies, their joy brought a smile to her face.

She smiled, until…

Cold, coupled by a sick warmth. Empty, like a carcass being eaten. Kurotsuchi was lying down but the only thing she could feel was her head and then that blurred to a cross between consciousness and unconsciousness. She slowly peered to see blood on the grass as she looked around, wondering what was happening. The day was almost over. Mother Sun was leaving for Father Night with her contented cheek disappearing behind the horizon in a brilliant sunset. Dusk lanterned the shadows to extend from the horizon. The last thing she remembered…

A sliver of ice ripped through her, throwing her into droves, her limbs numbing, as if on morphine. Lightning lit her eyes. She cried out. She felt like her body was caving in on itself, as what seemed like a gallon of adrenaline made her skittish. She wanted to move, she wanted to run, yet she couldn't.

Above, the trees whipped, blurs clashed, fire let alight billows of raged ash before Naruto's tearing blue eyes caught her view.

They must've been at it for hours, fighting back the ambush.

Another burst of white materialized above, then black.

A soothing hum permeated her system as she glanced to the wound to see it shut. Green chakra arced and knitted the skin back together like a Suturing needle before lithe hands bandaged her.

"Count yourself lucky, Kurotsuchi-san," a doctor told her. "The patrol near the border saved you."

Kurotsuchi handled her side lightly, looking tired. Sweat dotted her head. One hand soothingly feathering the bandage. She was in a doctor's office, she noticed. Were they home?

"Where am I?"

She had to be sure.

The doctor looked at her curiously before hanging up her charts on the bed post. "Iwagakure." He pointed to the metal insignia on his headband, making her feel foolish for not realizing first.

"And the others? Did you see a blonde boy with whiskers on his cheeks?" Kurotsuchi propped herself up while the doctor put his bony hand to chin. She waited. The doctor frowned.

"What's his name?" the doctor asked. "I didn't see him but I can have someone collect him for you if he's indeed that needed."

Immediately, her mood brightened, though she winced at the wound once she tried to move. The doctor settled her with a lollipop, as if she were a child.

It tasted good.

"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto."

Before long she was left alone. The trash one lollipop stick fuller.

Kurotsuchi could only wonder if this was how Naruto felt if only by a fraction of the cost. The office seemed so cold. So sterile. She could only wonder.

Not long after Naruto was escorted by the doctor. Worries kindled by Kurotsuchi's blood and the sight of her body being carried off by a stretcher. He held strong though.

Naruto held his fist tight, the whites of his knuckles bracing for the door; he had no idea where this man was leading him.

Light fluttered out from the door ahead and it blinded him for a moment before Kurotsuchi glowed in his eyes. Realistically, the window was open behind her but he didn't worry about that. She was dressed in a hospital gown. Loneliness marred the way her shoulders wept with the pits of her elbows bending to her shins as she held her legs firm against her.

Determination and relief flushed his system of worries before he went and, without warning, leaped next to Kurotsuchi, surprising her. "Sleep well?" He asked. He tried to be brave, for her sake, like she did for him.

Call it his moment of will.

The hospital bed was soft, he noticed.

Kurotsuchi's laced her arms around him like a fly trap and pulled him in. Naruto reciprocated that while closing his eyes.

The patrol had came and saved them, snatching Kurtosuchi from before him and scooping him up a second later. His eyes had been locked on her the whole way back. He didn't even notice they were in the village until she was being taken away for medical treatment.

Suddenly, Kurotsuchi was searching him, the dark of her eyes hunting for blood or cuts. Thankfully, he had none. Easing her, Naruto settled her shaking hands before he laid with her.

Neither talked. Naruto because he felt it unimportant. He was just glad. Kurotsuchi because she was too.

Thirty minutes of silence came and went like a visitor on a summers day, as if in the bag of goodies the visitor brought were small toys and sweet candies they relished and rejoiced, yet their mouths remained shut - content to stay in one anothers company.

Sweet silence.

He blinked and looked sidelong at her.

She blinked and looked sidelong at him.

They were left in silence, all to themselves in a purgatorial heaven. A white haven erected for them and only them, made from poking needles, white sheets, stools, and a few cabinets with important-looking signs.

"You two sure have made yourselves comfortable," The doctor's voice shattered the silence like bats erupting out of a cave. Naruto flinched in surprise and Kurotsuchi clutched him closer as a result. "A shame I have to break the solitude. Yes, yes a shame indeed."

Kurotsuchi silently coerced Naruto up, since they were lying down, and she could feel his heart beat fast, probably as fast as hers. She blushed, embarrassed.

"Come now, Naruto, was it? Go sit over there in the chair while I receive the final results for your dear."

Naruto simply nodded and did as he was told, ignoring his last comment. A stool was directly next to the bed in place of an actual chair with armrests, but… it would have to do, he told himself. He wouldn't complain; after all, it was better than nothing.

Then, the doctor scuttled to the door with an eccentric air about him, as if he were about to blow their minds before he leaned his head out.

"Lilith!" he yelled, like that sort of thing was a normal thing in a hospital, "Is the Tsuchikage's mago's results back?"

"Yes! One moment!"

The doctor leaned back in and looked to them both.

"It'll only be one moment."

Kurotsuchi sighed and shut her eyes. But her hand reached out, grabbing Naruto's before he rubbed the back of her hand in wait. He did not know where this was coming from but he would accept it.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

The clock perpetually spun it's hands. The air seemed stale. Arms crossing, Naruto glanced to see small beads of sweat gather at the doctor's forehead. Apparently, he could see how awkward he made it….

A folder popped from the slit in the door and the doctor thanked Lilith before walking over to them, flipping through the pages a few times for good measure.

Kurotsuchi didn't bother to open her eyes.

Naruto decided to take that as a good sign since her hand wasn't holding his quite as tight now.

Suddenly, the doctor bore a grim face.

"I'm so sorry."

Naruto and Kurotsuchi were older. Adults to be sure. Walking through the streets on a bright evening. The buildings around hung lanterns alight like still fireflies. They held hands. Married and happy, the couple leaned on the other while a festival celebrated the new year. Happiness, jestful hands and feet danced to the beat of music in the square.

It had been years since they had come to Iwa. Years since the incessant cries of Konoha, lost to time. Yet they were happy.

She was the Tsuchikage after her grandfather stepped down with Naruto as her faithful assistant, who never left her side.

Before that they had come to terms. Naruto became more confident and their admiration turned hand to infatuation, which soon took flight to the sky above and love above that.

They had dated for a few years beforehand. Kurotsuchi occasionally having to leave for a month or two for missions. But, when she came back Naruto was there to keep her company and to show his work as an artist. Those always made her smile, for she was his muse. For some odd reason Naruto had taken a liking to pencil and paper. How shading could bring to life something from his creative mind and immortalize it through his own two hands.

However, he was currently taking her to see a work he had kept out of sight. Something to commemorate him and her as a family.

"Naruto-kun! Glad to see you!"

Naruto turned Kurotsuchi and himself into the doors of a ramen stand named Ichiraku Ramen. Ayame was the chef. Yes, whether you believe it or not Ayame moved to Iwa to expand the family business and to start her own life. It just helped that Naruto lived there.

"You too, Nee-san. Do you have what I left?" He asked, gesturing to his wife.

Ayame smirked, if only a little before she pointed with her ladle to the drawing behind her, hanging over her counter, a picture of Naruto, Kurotsuchi, and a child between them. It was drawn with detail in the way Kurotsuchi's eyes stared acutely at you while she talked, as if you were the center of her world. Her jaw turned sharp and was strong with a red kimono covering all but her right leg sexily in a show of confidence.

Naruto expressed his 5'0 Clock shadow and his dulled yet excited eyes. He had a strong body and broad shoulders with a deep red kimono that cut off up to his right shoulder.

The child's name was Fuuka, a cute little thing about ten years old with black hair as shivering as her mothers. Her eyes were warm and held mischief with an unconscious grin.

Kurotsuchi was told the kunai had punctured her womb.

That she would never bear child.

They lied.

"Kaa-chan! Tou-san!"

Naruto picked up Fuuka, who ran from behind the counter into her parents arms.

Please, check out my other fics for enjoyment!

I would like to thank my Beta-Reader BrownEyedHoneybadger for an exemplary job done.

Review Responses:

cybercorpsesnake: Paragraphs were way to blocky making it hard to read.

ArkAngel1179: I don't mean to be rude, but are you reading on your phone? That might be the problem.

White Fox16: The chapter is good. Haven't seen any mistakes yet.

ArkAngel1179: Thanks! I hope this final chapter was good enough for you! I write best only for you!

Windninja1000: Great chapter, can't wait till the next chapter! :D

ArkAngel1179: Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

Girr: Continue

ArkAngel1179: Continued and finished. One up'd you!

Here are some stories that are either being written or have already been completed - which isn't many, mind you.

Left in Silence-Naruto/Kurotsuchi-Romance/Adventure (Completed)

Breaking the Cycle-OC/Azula-Romance/Adventure (This one... I don't know how long this will be. We'll see.)

Saving Venom-Naruto/Anko-Romance/Adventure (I don't want to exceed 20-25 chapters, but I will if I have to.)

Dying in Love-Naruto/Tenten-Romance/Tragedy (Completed)

Eve-OC/Little Sister-Romance/Tragedy (Will only be a few chapters long.)

All these stories will be completed at some point, but it's up to you to leave reviews to let me know just how well I am doing as a writer.

See ya.