Never Forgotten

AN: Third time trying to upload the same chapter, man this is getting irritating. Thanks letty for your kind review, I sincerely appreciate it. I did change the summary because it pretty much sucked, but I think I just made it even worse- wow I suck a summaries.

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Sakura stared with eyes wide open at the whisker-marked blonde man standing in the doorway, not wanting to blink for fear it was only her eyes playing tricks on her. Slowly her body started to respond even if her voice wouldn't and she reached out a single hand and brushed the back of it against his cheek. Tears rimmed up in her green eyes as she tried to say his name but for the life of her she couldn't remember it, she could hardly even remember how to breathe as she stood gazing at the teammate everyone thought was dead.::

He was the first one to speak. “Sakura-chan?” He asked in a soft tone, unsure of how he should move.

“Naruto!” She exclaimed, tackling him against the wall as she gripped the front of his white vest and began sobbing. “I thought you were dead, we all thought you were dead, Naruto.”

“Why does everyone keep calling me that?” The young man asked in a genuinely confused tone, managing to pull himself away from her. “First the white-eyed man, then the one with the crazy dog, and now you.”

“I-it's your name, don't you re...” Her words trailed off as she got a good look at his eyes, seeing for the first time the blue rings running around the red splotches, and finally noticing his elongated pupils. “What's your favorite food?”

“I, uh, my...” The blonde shook his head as he slumped against the wall, looking up at her with his strange eyes after a few minutes. “I don't know, my memories are how they should be, in my mind they're like pieces of a broken mirror- some of the pieces aren't even mine it's like having two different mirrors shattered in by brain, and it makes my head hurt just trying to sort it all out.”

“Oi, Sakura, you aren't going to believe who I saw today!” A brash shout came up the stairs, followed shortly after by Kiba and Akamaru- who immediately started to growl menacingly. “Akamaru, what's wrong with you today?”

As if to answer his question he heard a threatening snarl coming from beside Sakura, who instantly stepped away from a nine-tailed blonde that bore a striking resemblance to his friend.

“Naruto! Stop!” Sakura shouted as the man's body tensed before he glanced to her, his teeth still bared to the large dog. “Kiba, get Akamaru out of here.”

Kiba nodded as he glanced between Sakura and the fox-featured man, struggling to bodily remove Akamaru from the stairs. “Come on Akamaru, quit fighting me already- I'll be fine, I promise.” With a quick bark to his owner and a glare at the blonde the dog reluctantly plodded down the steps and took a seat at the bottom, ready to bolt back up in an instant at his master's call.

“So, would you mind telling me what's going on here?” He asked, glancing at Sakura as Naruto started to relax a little. “Starting with why Naruto has tails.”

“I would, but I don't really know myself.” Naruto said with a shrug, catching him slightly off guard. “That's really the only reason why I've come to this place, which reminds me- what's this place called anyway?”

*~*~*

Naruto curled up on one side of the small couch in the living room and making sure that the other two were comfortable before he started to explain the circumstances that had led him to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, how he had woken up in the midst of a broken battlefield alone and covered in blood and long journey that had led him back to his homeland. Wandering from country to country until he finally entered the familiar territory around the walled village, about the time when his dual memories started to awaken within his previously instinctual mind. Kiba had found it particularly amusing when he described how he had 'acquired' his current attire from the Hyuuga compound, and even Sakura laughed at the thought of what the face woman that had worked so hard to clean that spectacularly white outfit must look like right now.::

Naruto looked at the young woman as she giggled, her laugh rekindling another memory. “The Red Eyes.” He said suddenly, causing her to regard him curiously. “I, made a promise to you about the Red Eyes, it was important but I can't remember it.”

“Sasuke-kun.” Her head turned to the side as she thought about her one time crush. “He, came back to the village shortly after you, after we thought you had died.”

“You know, you still haven't told my why he has the tails.” Kiba stated, breaking the awkward silence.

“I, I don't know, it could have something to do with the Kyuubi- maybe the seal was damaged or broken.” Sakura shrugged as Naruto lowered his head and cradled it in his palm. “Is something wrong Naruto.”

“I, think, I released the seal.” He said after a few minutes, her head snapped towards him immediately. “I, I didn't have enough power to fight them all alone, it was the only way to stop them.” He mumbled something into his tails before his head snapped and a snarl rumbled from his throat. “Uchiha Madara- I'll rip those damned red eyes straight from his fucking skull!”

Sakura couldn't help but shift away in fear at the deadly tone on his voice as it shifted somewhere between a deathly cold and a raging boil. A shiver traveled down her spine and one went down Kiba's as well as the nine tailed boy's murderous intent filled the small room as he shifted his body up. As quickly as his rage appeared it disappeared and he slunk back down, hiding himself in a mass of red tails barely peeking out enough to look at them.::

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...” His voice trailed off like a scared child as he barricaded himself behind a wall of tails.

“I-it's alright Naruto.” Sakura said, regaining her composure first, as she looked over to Kiba she noticed he was still shaken from the intensity of the intent. “Kiba, Kiba- Hey, Dog Boy!”

The reference grabbed the young Chunin's attention and he glared at Sakura briefly. “What?”

“Go to the Administrative office and bring Tsunade-sama here.” She instructed, receiving a curious look but cutting the boy off before he could ask why. “We need to have her look at Naruto, and I'm not sure if it would be a good idea for him to be walking around the streets of Konaha right now- do what you need to but get her here.”

“Alright, no need to get snippy.” He said, raising his hands as he walked toward the door, sticking his head around the corner to make one last comment before leaving. “Don't do anything I wouldn't do.”

“You mean dig up the yard or drink out of the toilet?” Naruto asked on impulse from behind his tails, drawing a look from the room's remaining occupant. “I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that.”

“It's alright Naruto, it was kind of funny actually.” She said with a shrug, moving to the free seat beside him. “So, are you going to hide behind your tails all day, or are you going to tell me where your outburst came from.”

“Hiding sounds good.” He answered quickly, feeling a sudden tingle of pleasure shoot up his spine as she parted his tails with her hands. “P-please, don't d-do that, they're sensitive.” He stammered as her fingers shifted over his red-orange fur.

“Oh really, so what happens if I do this?” She asked with a playful smirk as she stroked the long tail, by the look of sheer pleasure on his face she could tell he liked it.

“S-Sakura-chan, th-that's not fair.” He moaned in a familiar manner, and to his surprise she stopped and gently replaced his fluffy barricade. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What? N-no, it's just a little...” Her face turned red as she spoke and she gave her head a sharp shake to bring herself back to her senses. “So, why did you suddenly say- what you did?” She asked, quickly changing the subject.

“I told you before Kiba showed up that my memories are like two broken mirrors.” He said and she simply gave a nod. “Well, when I remember things after a certain point- It's always in a pair of memories, like when I was really young I remember always feeling so alone, how everyone would look at me with such cold eyes- but I also remember whispering through the darkness to the young boy I was trapped in, telling him such cruel things to fill his belly with hatred for this village, hoping he would release my seal and free me. It was so easy too, whispering into his, my, dreams as he slept at night in his ratty little blanket, whispering through the darkness how much the people despised him, me. Can we stop talking about this, it's making my head hurt.”

Sakura nodded at him and he tucked his head back behind his tails, it was kind of cute the way he did it- like some sort of furry turtle trying to hide. She wasn't quite sure how but after a few minutes she realized that she was stroking one of his fox-like ears with her thumb and soon his head was resting comfortably on her lap. Time slipped past without notice and soon she heard the click of the door opening, and to her surprise Kiba and Tsunade were not alone- behind them came the Hyuuga heiress and her cousin the genius. Naruto was roused from his nap when he suddenly found his head without any support, as Sakura was on her feet and quickly straightening out her clothes- a wide line of red crossing her cheeks. When his colorful eyes fell on the white-eyed man from the roof curled up into a ball and wrapped his tail around himself defensively.::

“Sakura, what the hell did you have him drag me all the way...” The large-chested blonde woman started to demand, cutting off as she noticed the red ball with two small eyes visible sitting on the couch looking at the newest arrivals cautiously. “Oh.”

“Tsunade-sama, that's Naruto.” Sakura said, surprising the Sanin even further.

“I knew I saw him this morning.” Neji said with a satisfied smirk, drawing looks from the others. “What, I can't be happy about being right?”

“Never mind, Tsunade-sama, I was hoping you might be able to help him like you did Sasuke- when you first became Hokage.” The pink haired young woman said, leading her to the couch as Naruto relaxed slightly at the older woman's presence- his nose twitching slightly as she approached.

“Something on you, smells like me.” He said suddenly, surprising everyone slightly.

“It's probably this.” Tsunade said with a small chuckle, pulling off her small necklace and holding it in front of him. “You won this from me in a bet, do you remember what that was?” Her voice was more pleasant then anyone had heard it for weeks as she spoke to the blonde on the couch, Sakura watched as her mentor slowly twisted the cord and began to rotate the stone slowly in the light- causing spots of varying sizes to apear around the room as it broke apart in the gems angles.

“You, you bet me that I couldn't master the Rasengan in a week, and I won- I used it to protect you...” His voice trailed off for a second before shifting to a lower tone. “He tired to kill us, he cut off my power from the brat, it became so very dark.” The other watched the display in stunned silence, waiting as the young man looked up at the Hokage with a weak smile. “I'm tired now, can I go to sleep?”

“Go right ahead.” Tsunade nodded, watching the young man sink into his tails again before setting a hand on his forehead and the room grew still again. “I can't do much to help him I'm afraid, his mind isn't like Sasuke's was after his fight with Itachi, back then that was the after effects of a powerful Genjutsu. But now, it's like his mind, or really I should say minds are splintered. Both Naruto's memories and the memories of the Kyuubi are jumbled together, I can't tell you why this would happen because I honestly don't know, but I can tell you with fair certainty that right now we're dealing with a completely new mind, he's got all of Naruto's memories and I would guess all of the Kyuubi's as well. I can only imagine what he must be going through right now. We're going to have to be careful with him, at this point he pretty much has the mind of a child, so it's unlikely that he has much emotional control and he will likely be prone to intense emotional outbursts.”

“You mean like flying into a murderous rage at a moment's notice intense?” Kiba asked, glancing at the sleeping boy.

“Potentially yes.” The medic confirmed. “For right now he's going to need a care giver, at least until he's more emotionally stable- since he seems most at ease with you Sakura...” She paused, smirking at what they had all seen earlier. “That job will fall to you.”

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