Never Forgotten

AN: Alright, not my longest chapter ever (that was somewhere just short of twenty pages) but chapter three is finally here for real! A little note about my story Cry Merciful Angel. I'm not sure when that's going be updated again, I have completely forgotten the plot to it- though I may remember it some time in the future so I'm not going to take it down because it's gotten good reviews so far. Really sorry about the inconvienence. And yes, this means the Never Forgotten hiatus is over, though I have no idea when the next chapter will be ready. All I can say about it right now it has a very special guest star- I'm sorry that I couldn't get log for the next chapter, but it does have the child's ball of YYH Adridged. I know, I'm strange, but what can I say. The abdridged series amuse me greatly. Anyway, with only a little further ado, chapter three- please enjoy and review.

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=3=

Sakura sat quietly on the empty side of the couch as she mulled over her newest assignment, who happened to be sleeping less than a meter away, purring contentedly as he snuggled against one of his tails- an odd thought struck her and she wondered if foxes purred. His nap had lasted for a little over an hour and she had been thinking about how she was supposed to take care of him, was he going to be like a child as her teacher had predicted, he certainly hadn't acted like one since he had arrived- though she had been correct about his mood swings. The young woman was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt a gently hand touch her arm.

“Is the little white eyes still here?” He asked, looking up at her with innocent eyes when she turned her attention to him. “I would like to speak with her privately if she is.”

“You mean Hinata, yes, she still here.” She nodded, wondering why he remembered her name but didn't seem to remember any one else's- including his own. “Naruto, how come you only remembered my name?”

“I heard you say it, at the black stone- before the silver haired man arrived.” He answered, she quickly understood when and who she was talking about.

“Oh.” The young woman said with a hint of disappointment in her voice as she walked into the kitchen. “Hinata, Naruto would like to talk to you.”

“N-Naruto-kun?” The dark-haired woman asked nervously as she entered the room, her face turning a deeper shade of red with every step that took her closer to him. “Y-you...” She swallowed hard as she tried to build up her courage. “Sakura said you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yes.” He nodded with a small smile on his face, sitting up on the old couch to make room for her. “I, wanted to apologize to you- for how I used to treat you.” Naruto continued after she sat down.

“W-what do you mean?” She stammered, struggling to keep her breathing steady as he shifted closer and set a gentle hand on her cheek. “Y-you never...”

“I never physically hurt you, but I remember how you would always act like this near me.” He stated as her face continued to redden. “I'm sorry, that I had to ignore you like I did, but I did it for your sake- I wish I could remember things more clearly, but I remember that I always thought of you as one of the kindest people I knew. I'm sorry that I had to keep so far isolated from you to protect you from the hate that the villagers held for me, and I hope you can forgive me.”

“Naruto-kun.” Hinata whispered shyly as she pressed her cheek against his hand, her entire body trembling at the thought of his words- her heart skipped a beat when she felt his forehead touch hers.

“Yes, Hinata?” His voice was almost too soft to be heard despite him being so close to her. “You know, I always found it cute the way you blush like this.” That did it, the girl went into sensory overload with those last words and fainted right then and there. “Hinata?”

“She fainted.” Naruto stated as he entered the kitchen with Hinata passed out in his arms.

“Well, she hasn't done that in a while.” Kiba remarked, looking at the unconscious Hyuuga as he shook his head. “What did you do, kiss her?”

“N-no, we were just talking.” He shrugged as her cousin took her.

“You touched her didn't you?” Neji asked, noticing that some parts of her face were still lightly flushed.

“Just on the cheek.” He said innocently, holding up a clawed hand in emphasis.

“That's why, she could barely get within three feet of you and stay conscious.” He said with a chuckle. “It's not really all that surprising that she fainted when you touched her.”

“Oh, I'm sorry- I knew she was shy around me, but I didn't realize...” His voice trailed off when he realized that everyone in the room was blatantly staring at him. “What?”

“Are you saying you knew that she has a crush on you?” Kiba was the first to ask.

“Yes, since the beginning- I think.” He said with a shrug. “What?”

“If you knew, than why did you act like you didn't even notice her?” He pressed.

“Because everyone was afraid of me, I mean the Kyuubi- I mean...” He dropped the the floor with a cry, clutching his head at a sudden sharp pain in his head. “Make it stop.” He whimpered from the floor.

“Naruto, Naruto- open your eyes and look.” Sakura said, at his side in an instant with his necklace spinning in her hands as she pushed a small trickle of chakra into the unique stone.

“It hurts.” He whimpered as he cracked his eyes open just wide enough to see the twirling stone, his body relaxed visibly as he stared at a dazzling display of lights only his eyes could see.

“That's right, just look at the stone.” Sakura said, following the instructions given to her by the Hokage. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.” He nodded, his eyes never leaving the unique crystal on the end of the cord until she stopped pushing her chakra through it. “I'm tired again.”

“It's alright Naruto, go to sleep.” The pink haired kunoichi said with a nod, picking the blonde up as he nodded off again.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Kiba asked as she laid her teammate back on the couch.

“The same thing Tsunade-sama did.” She stated, holding up the necklace and spinning it in the light. “What do you see?”

“I dunno, spots on the wall I guess.” He shrugged, regarding her and the necklace curiously. “Why.”

“The reason this necklace is so valuable, is because when a person focuses their chakra through the stone it has a semi-hypnotic effect on the tailed beasts and on people like Naruto.” She sighed, placing the gem back in her pouch. “You see spots on the wall, and he sees something else entirely.”

“Hypnotic, you mean you can make him do what you want with that thing?” Kiba said, getting a wicked grin on his face and earning a kick on the top of the head from Neji.

“Thank you.” Sakura said with a small smirk, nodding at the white-eyed man before turning her attention to Kiba. “No, Semi-hypnotic. It calms him down and makes him easier to deal with, while that doesn't seem like much to you- think about this. The Nine-tails was, according to all known records, one of the most dangerous and volatile of the tailed beasts, but this necklace, when used properly could calm him and put him in a semi-reasonable state- to the point where if a person were a skilled talker they could in theory get him to leave without a massive military effort.”

“We should get going, I'm sure Hiashi-sama must be ready to tear the entire village apart looking for the two of us by now.” Neji said after a brief moment of quiet. “Sakura, you may wish to think about making him trim his claws so he doesn't accidentally hurt someone with them, from what I've seen they are more than capable of cutting through ceramic tiling and skin isn't nearly that tough.”

“Right, that's a good idea.” Sakura nodded, looking down at Kiba as the other two left. “You should probably go too, I'm sure Akamaru isn't going to be too happy with you being up here without him for so long.”

“Good point.” The brunette said, shaking his head quickly as he pushed himself off the floor. “Why the hell did he have to kick me so hard, my ears are still ringing.”

~*~*~

Sakura watched her onetime teammate pawing at one particular spot on the hardwood floor with his recently declawed hands, she couldn't help but wonder if his foot was still hurting from the disastrous attempt at trimming his sharpened nails with a pair of nail clippers. Her eyes glanced up at the hole in the ceiling from where one half of the bolt had gone, she had learned very quickly that store bought nail clippers were not meant to be used in combination with the monstrous strength she had learned from Tsunade. It had taken her nearly an hour for her to talk him into letting her try trimming his nails with a chakra scalpel, not that she could really blame him for his reluctance.::
Naruto's actions reminded the medic-nin more of the antics of an overgrown house cat than that of a demon fox, fortunately for her sanity he had not tried to clean himself with his tongue. The thought actually reminded Sakura of how unpleasent he smelled at the moment, likely due to him not even giving thought to bathing in over a month. She gave herself a curt nod as she confirmed to herself that Naruto needed a bath, and that it was her job as his care taker to make sure he got cleaned up properly.::

“Naruto.” Sakura said after she created a shadow clone to go draw the bathwater. “It's time for you to take a bath.”

“Don't want to take a bath.” He muttered as his tails covered him defensively.

“You smell like a rotting carcass, you need a bath.” She said firmly as she walked over to him.

“I don't want a bath, go away.” He said childishly from beneath his shield of tail.

“There's more than one way we can do this Naruto.” Sakura stated as wrapped an arm around his waist to drag him to the bath, finding much to her annoyance that he remembered the tree walking exercise and was now using his chakra to lock himself to the floor. “Naruto, let go of the floor.”

“No.” He grunted as he continued clinging even after she started using both arms. “I don't want a bath.”

Sakura let go with an exasperated growl after she heard the floor starting to crack under the strain, even without his memories he was just as infuriating as when they had just graduated the academy. A devious smirk appeared on her face as an idea struck her, again she walked over to Naruto and wrapped her arms around him- this time in a much more gentle fashion.

“I'm not going, and you can't make me.” The blond said stubornly.

“Na-ru-to-kun, please?” Sakura whispered in a tone that could turn water to steam and men into a malleable pieces of clay in a woman's hand. “Come take a bath with me?”

Naruto turned as red as Hinata would, giving up on all resistance and even thought as the kunoichi pulled him into the bathroom. His mind numbing blush didn't fade as Sakura stripped him first and then herself before sitting him down as her shadow clone walked over with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water. Sakura couldn't help but admire the look and feel of Naruto's body as she started to wash him, she knew he had been severely injured before, to the point that most people would have died, but his body was completely devoid of even the smallest scratch. She couldn't help but smile when he started to purr uncontrollably as she began to wash his tails while her replication washed her with far greater speed and efficiency before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.::
It gave her no small sense of pride that she could manipulate the undoubtedly powerful boy so easily with just a gentle touch and a seductive tone. A small part of her couldn't help but wonder how she had completely ignored Naruto for so long, he was by no means physically unattractive even if he could be a little annoying at times. Maybe it was just the fact that Sakura had already lost the blond boy once that made her realize it, she couldn't really think of any other reason why she had offered to take a bath with the person- now that she thought about it, she probably could have just created a couple more clones and bathed him right in the living room, messy as it would have been.::
Still, she didn't complain as she escorted the recovering fox boy into the tub, and neither did he for that matter. She smile and chuckled slightly when she felt the vibrations of his purring travel all throughout his body and hers as the two of them slipped into the hot bathwater. Sakura was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Naruto still hadn't tried anything despite the fact that the two of them were pressed together and completely naked in the bathtub. Maybe, just maybe, she could get used to him being like this Sakura thought as her hand ran down his muscular stomach. Sakura opened her soft green eyes when she noticed his purring had stopped, a drowsy smile spread across her face as she wrapped her arms around his waist in a loose hug.::

“Never leave me again.” She whispered into his fox ear as drifted off herself.

=~=


AN2: Again, sorry for both the short chapter and how long it took to get out. This was about half-way done at the time of the last update and then my muse left it for a different story. I'm not really sure how long this story will be or how long it will take- but I'm guessing it'll be somewher around ten chapters, that's about typical length for my stories when they're finish. Also, I repeat my apologies for the people who like CMA because I'm a stupid head and I forgot the plot. Anyway, sorry for the rant, and remember. Good, Bad or 'Rabid drool monkeys are eating my brain' leave me a review of what you think so far- they really do help with the writing. Well, Later W-S.