It was a plain, old day in the Hidden Leaf Village. The sky was clear with the sun high. Team 7 just got done with some training in the forest.
"Yeah! That was a great training!" chimed in Sakura.
"Man, I'm so hungry! Let's go get some ramen!" groaned Naruto.
"Do you ever thinking about anything else besides ramen and training?" Sakura asked, shaking her head in annoyances.
"Well, I gotta eat you know," laughed Naruto, rubbing the back of his head. "And I need to train to get stronger, because I'm going to be Hokage!"
"Yeah, yeah. We know, Naruto, now shut up," glared Sasuke.
"Hey guys, look up there." Sakura pointed to the distance.
A girl was kneeling in front of a tree. She was coughing. The group rushed over to her. "Hey, are you alright?" asked Sakura.
The girl turned her head and looked at them. She had long purple hair, but it was all tangled and messy. She had pale skin and grayish blue eyes. "Ummm...yeah..." The girl smiled nervously. "I...umm...just got my foot caught in the tree roots."
The group looked over at her leg. Her foot did look tangled in the over-grown roots of the tree.
"Can I borrow one of your kunai? I left mine...ummm...at home..." She giggled nervously.
"Sure. Here." Naruto said, pulling a kunai from his holster and handed it to her.
"Thanks." She smiled, taking the kunai knife.
"Sakura, doesn't she seem weird?" whispered Sasuke.
"Yeah, she does. Look at her clothes," whispered Sakura in return.
The girl was wearing a plain white jacket with a symbol on it. She was also wearing plain white pants that had a bit of dirt in them. And also, she was bare footed.
"I wonder what that symbol means on her jacket," whispered Naruto. "It looks familiar."
Sakura and Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"Wait, I've seen that before. It's what the medic shinboi wear!" gasped Sakura.
"Where is she?!" "Find her!" "Hurry!"
Yelling came not to far away.
"Crap..." whispered the girl. She pulled her foot from the roots, it wasn't caught at all.
The three stared at her. She was about to stand up but she began to cough again. A headband fell from her pocket.
"Look! It's a Rain Village headband!" gasped Sakura.
"Over here!" someone yelled.
The girl stood up, cursing under her breath. She threw the kunai at Naruto, cutting his holster from his leg. The girl grabbed her headband from the ground.
"Hey!" yelled Naruto, as he fell to the ground, surprise by the kunai.
"Who are you?" ordered Sasuke.
"Sorry, I gotta go!" yelled the girl, running away, grabbing the holster. "I'll return this later!"
"There she is!" "Get her!"
Three medic ninjas ran past them, after the girl. Team 7 stood there, stunned and confused.
"She just took all my shuriken and kunai!" whined Naruto.

The Next Day

Team 7 waited on the bridge for their sensei, Kakashi, who was late as usual. They began to discuss the girl from the other day.
"She was very weird," said Naruto.
"I agree." Sakura nodded her head.
"Who do you think she was?" asked Naruto.
"She must have been a spy from the Hidden Village of Rain," glared Sasuke.
"I don't think so, Sasuke. Wouldn't more elite shinboi be chasing her then the medic ones? And aren't the Leaf Village and the Rain Village allies?" said Sakura.
"Wow, your right Sakura," said Naruto. "But why was she being chased? And why did she take my kunai and shuriken?"
They all shrugged, thinking hard and long. This was going be hard case to crack.
"Good morning, students." Kakashi said, showing up out of nowhere, reading his book.
"You're late!" yelled Naruto and Sakura.
"Yeah, well, a black cat crossed my path and I had to ta..." began Kakashi.
"LIER!!!" they yelled again.
"Hey, why don't we ask Kakashi about that girl?" said Naruto.
"Yeah!" agreed Sakura.
"What girl?" asked Kakashi, raising an eyebrow.
"When we were walking back from training, we ran into this girl. She had a rain village headband. She ran way and some medic shinboi followed her." Sakura explained.
"Yeah, and she took my holster with all my kunai and shrunken!" yelled Naruto.
"Interesting," said Kakashi. "I don't know a thing about it.However, here is an idea. Your mission to day is to find information about the girl."
"Where do we start?" asked Naruto.
"Why don't we split up and ask around?" said Sakura.
"I think that would be best," sighed Sasuke.
"We can meet at the ramen stand for lunch and share what we've learn," said Sakura.
"Ramen!" yelled Naruto.
"Do we agree?" said Sasuke.
"Agreed!" the others said and nodded their heads.
With that, they went different directions.
By noon, the three all met back up at the ramen stand. To their surprise, Kakashi was there too. Naruto sat there, slurping his ramen down quickly. Sakura ate a little and Sasuke didnt even touch his. Kakashi just read his book. They began to discuss what they found.
"None of the inns seen a girl in of her description," said Sasuke.
"No one that I talked to even heard of the girl," said Naruto.
"I didn't have much luck either," sighed Sakura.
"So what's going to be your next move?" asked Kakashi.
"I think were missing something," said Sasuke.
"Yeah, but what? asked Sakura.
"Hmmmmmmm..." Naruto said. He reached over, stole Sasukes bowl, replacing with his empty one, and began to slurp the ramen down.
"Wait! Do you remember her jacket?" said Sakura.
"Yeah, so?" said Naruto.
"And the medic shinboi were chasing her. Which most mean, she's at the hospital!" said Sakura.
"Oh, yeah! I knew that!" said Naruto.
"Right..." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" said Naruto.

"Well, here we are," said Sakura. The three stood outside a building that read 'Konoha Hospital'. They entered the building. It almost seemed empty.
"Where is everyone?" asked Naruto.
A loud thud sound came from the second floor.
"What was that?" asked Sakura. They all looked up.
Some yelling came from the second floor.
"Something's going on up there! We better check it out!" said Naruto, rushing to the stairs, the others behind him.
"Amaya! Get down!" yelled a woman, she looked like a nurse.
The girl that they met in the forest was hiding up in the ceiling. She must have moved one of the panels on the ceiling and was sitting up there. There were nurses and medics all around. She was throwing shuriken and kunai at anyone who got too close to her. All over the room were shuriken and kunai that missed their targets. She was coughing here and there.
"Please, Amaya! Get down from there, and take your medication," begged the nurse.
"Go away! I'm going to die anyway! And it's not going to be in this place!" the girl yelled.
"What's going on?" asked Sakura, as they came to the crowd of nurses and medics in the hall, looking into the room. They pushed through the crowed to get a better look. They saw the girl.
"Hey, that's her!" yelled Naruto.
Amaya blinked and noticed the group of people she tricked in the forest the other day.
"Amaya!" said the nurse, getting too close.
Amaya gasped and throwing kunai and cutting the nurses arm. Blood started to stain her white uniform. She reached for a shuriken from the hostler she stole from the blond haired kid she met in the forest.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice said behind her.
Amaya let out a yelp of surprise and fell through the open space in the ceiling because the voice scared her.
Naruto began to run into the room, hoping to catch the girl. A hand shot out and grabbed her ankle at the last second. Amaya screamed for a few seconds with her eyes tightly closed. She soon noticed she did not go splat on the floor and opened her eyes. In front of her was Naruto with a dumb-founded look on his face. She blinked. He was staring at something on her upside down body. She looked up at herself. She was wearing pale pants and a pale top, clothes the hospital gave her to wear, underneath she wore her fishnet top. Well, the pale hospital shirt was unbuttoned and open, giving Naruto a good view of her bare chest under the fishnet top.
Amaya gave a short scream and tried covering her chest. "Pervert!" She kicked her foot a bit, kicking her rescuer in the jaw. They let go of her and let her drop on top of Naruto, both crashing to the ground.
Sakura and Sasuke, the nurse that got cut and some medics rushed over to them. Up in the open space, rubbing his jaw was Kakashi.
"Some thanks I get," he sighed.

“I’m so sorry about that,” sighed the nurse. She pulled a blanket over the girl. The fall ended up knocking her out. The nurse’s arm was now bandaged up.
Kakashi smiled under his mask “It’s no problem.”
“Thank you for helping us with Amaya, she can get out of hand,” laughed the nurse.
“Amaya? Is that her name?” asked Sakura. She was helping Naruto pick up all the kunai and shuriken the girl threw. Naruto had two lumps on his head. One from the girl falling on top of him and the other from Sakura hitting him for being perverted, even though he tried to explain what happened.
“Yes, it is. My name is Zhi,” smiled the nurse.
Sakura stood up and shook Zhi’s hand. Naruto pulled one of the last kunai from the wall and put in the holster that fell with the girl.
“I just don’t know how she got a hold of those,” Zhi shook her head. “So why are you folks here?”
“Well, we’re here because...” started Sakura.
“Because of her!” yelled Naruto. “She stole this from me.” Naruto pouted a bit, holding his holster.
“I’m sorry about that. Amaya snuck out the other day,” sighed Zhi.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why is she in the hospital?” asked Sakura.

“Well, both Amaya and I are from the Rain Village. No one is sure what happened but one day she disappeared. She was later found not to far away from the village in a coma. When she finally woke, she wouldn’t talk about what happened,” told Zhi.
“But why she here? Now that she’s awake, she doesn’t need to be here right?” said Sakura.
“Well, yes and no. She is awake from her coma but it’s what caused the coma. Some how she got some poison in her body. Our village never has seen this type of poison before so we did not have a cure. We came here in hope to find a cure for her. Sadly, nothing has worked for her. We know the poison is still in her because of that cough of her’s. No matter what we can’t get rid of it,” Zhi paused and was silent for a bit. “She’s slowly dying. It seems the more chakra she uses, the weaker she gets and her condition gets worst. But she refuses to stop using chakra, because that’s just telling her to stop being a ninja.”
The room was in a dead silence. Each person had a look of sympathy for the girl.

Amaya made a small sound and opened her eyes.
“Well, hello. Is your anger gone now? I hope so, you have visitors!” asked Zhi, smiling.
“Huh?” yawned Amaya, rubbing her head. She looked around. “Oh, them...” she whispered with a snort.
“Now, Amaya, be nice. And I think you owe them an apology.” Zhi crossed her arms.
“Fine…” sighed Amaya. “Gezz, you’re like a mother…,” she mutter about Zhi. She looked at Naruto. “I’m sorry for stealing your weapons,” she muttered.
“It’s okay,” smiled Naruto.
“But I’m not sorry for falling on you. You pervert!” snorted Amaya.
“Why you!” yelled Naruto.
“What are you going to do about?” Amaya and Naruto got in a death glare stare.
“Amaya, that’s enough.” Zhi pushed Naruto and Amaya apart. Amaya stuck her tongue out at Naruto.
“Now, Amaya, it’s time for you to take your medicine. And you need to get some food into the stomach of yours.” Zhi told her.
“No.” Amaya said stubbornly.
“What? Why not?” asked Zhi.
“This food is nasty! And those pills aren’t helping me,” she yelled.
“Now how do you know that if you don’t take it?” sighed Zhi.
“Because I’m going to die one way or another!” she yelled. Amaya looked around. Everyone had the sympathetic look again. “Stop with your pity looks!” she yelled. “I said STOP!”
The most that they could do was look away.
“Well, forget this.” She yelled, getting out of bed.
“Amaya!” yelled out Zhi.
“Shut up and leave me alone. I don’t need you.” Amaya stormed her way to the door. Everyone just stared as she slammed the door close.
“I’m sorry, please forgive her.” Zhi bowed quickly and hurried after Amaya.

A small sound of thunder roared in the distance. Naruto looked up at the gray clouds that covered the sky, just in time to have a few drops of rain to fall on to his face. He sighed a bit. He was out in the forest training by himself and now the rain ruined it. He began to walk back when it began to pour. He tried using the trees for shelter but the rain still drenched him. As jumped from the trees, he stopped on a lower branch, seeing something black in a tree in the distance. Taking a closer look, he discovered it was the girl from the hospital, Amaya.

Naruto saw she was no longer in her hospital clothes. She was in normal clothes. She wore a pair of sandals with fishnet stockings that went up to her mid-calf. She wore a pair of dark purple pants. They started out tight around her calf and got baggy around her knees. She also had a dark blue sash around her waist. She wore a fishnet top with a purple tank top. She had dark blue fingerless gloves and around her neck was her headband. She held an umbrella that covered her face with its shadow.

“Hey!” Naruto called up to her. Amaya did not react at all. “Hey, I’m talking to you!” yelled Naruto. Still, she did not move or say a thing. Naruto jump to the branch she sat on. “Are you okay? What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Just go away.” Amaya whispered. The umbrella hid her face from him.
“Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?” asked Naruto.
“I said go away.” Amaya repeated.
“Hey, you’re going to get sick if you stay out in the rain like this.” Naruto told her.
Amaya did not say a thing.
“Hey, did you hear me?” Naruto reached his hand out to shake her.
Amaya turned around, quickly. “Don’t touch me!” she yelled, slapping his hand away.

Naruto was surprised to see the look on her face. She had watery eyes and looked like she had been crying. “What? You’re crying? Why?” asked Naruto.
“Just leave me alone. It’s none of your business.” Amaya looked away again, adjusting her umbrella so it blocked her body from his view, all he saw was her legs that hung off the branch. They sat in silence for a long time, the rain still pounding at its hardest. Amaya lifted her umbrella and saw Naruto was still there. “Why haven’t you left yet?” she asked. There was no anger in her voice. There wasn’t really any emotion in her voice, as if she was in a daze.
“I’m not going to leave you out here alone. It’s raining!” Naruto told her.
“But why do you care?” asked Amaya.
Naruto thought about it for a bit “I’m not really sure but you seem like you shouldn’t be out here. Why are you out here?” he asked.
Amaya did not reply.
“I answered some of your questions. Therefore, you should answer mine. It’s fair.” Naruto crossed his arms in annoyances.
“I’m going home.” Amaya whispered.

“Home?” Naruto blinked. “You mean, to the Rain Village?”
Amaya nodded her head. “Yes.”
“Why?” Naruto asked.
“Because I don’t want to die here.” Amaya whispered.
“But, you don’t have to die. I’m sure the hospital will find you a cure.”
“Your optimize… I hate it.”
“But it’s true!”
“No! No it’s not!”
Naruto was shocked by her yelling. “How do you know?”
“Because….” whispered Amaya.
“Because why?” asked Naruto.
“It’s none of your business! Okay?” snapped Amaya.
They sat in silence again.

“What’s at the Rain Village for you?” asked Naruto.
“Nothing….” Amaya whispered.
“Then why go back?” Naruto tilted his head.
Amaya was silent for a while. “Naruto, do you have a goal?” she asked.
“A goal?” Naruto tilted his head.
“You know? Like a dream you want to achieve?” Amaya explained.
“I’m going to be the greatest Hokage ever!” yelled Naruto. “Then people will stop looking down on me! Believe it!”
Amaya was silent again. “That’s a nice goal.” She finally whispered.
“Do you have any goals?” asked Naruto.
“Just one.” Amaya sighed. “To you it might be stupid and simple. However, to me… I don’t know. Important to me, I guess.”
“What is it?” Naruto titled his head.
“To impress my parents.”
“Huh?” Naruto blinked.
“Like I said, it’s stupid.” Amaya whispered.
“I don’t get what you mean.” Naruto titled his head.
“You know how parents tell kids to do their best but no matter what they’ll still love them. My best was never good enough for my parents.” Amaya was staring at the ground as Naruto stared at her. “My parents always told me it wasn’t good enough, that I could do better, or they’d just not care.”

*Flashback*
A young child, about 6, ran up to her mother. “Look, mommy! Look at what I drew!” The young girl held a picture up of a flower she drew. It was scribbled with crayon. “What is that suppose to be?” asked the mother. “A flower. Don’t you like it?” smiled the young girl. The mother turned her back to the girl. “It’s horrible. Doesn’t even look like a flower.” The girl lowered the picture and watched her mother walk away.

“Everything. My work, my test, even the way I dressed and ate. I was the top of my class at the academy. When the other parents congratulated their kids for becoming ninjas. My parents didn’t even care. It was nothing special to them. I trained so hard. Up before the sun and trained all day until I could barely walk. Not once did I hear them say how well I was doing.”

*Flashback*
“Mother! Father!” A 12-year-old girl ran to her parents, with a small limp. She had a paper and a headband. “Look! I’m a ninja now!” Her father grabbed the paper. It was a grading of her performance exam.
Knowledge 10/10
Strength 10/10
Defense 10/10
Form 9/10
Total 39/40
“You lost a point on form,” her father snorted. “Yeah, but I still got the most points then anyone else in my class and my form was off by a little because of the fall I had the other day, I twisted my ankle! But my sensei was very impressed!” the girl yelled out, the happiness in her face slowly slipping away. “Don’t make excuses for yourself. Such a shameful performance,” her father yelled. “You disgrace us,” add her mother.

Amaya lifted a hand to her eyes and wiped away tears with the back of it. “I never knew that my goal would be my downfall.”
Naruto blinked “What?”
“I disobeyed the rules and snuck off on a dangerous mission. I listened into some ninjas talking about missing-nin. From what they were saying, he didn’t sound tough at all. I though if I could find him and bring him to the village, my parents might be proud me.” Amaya’s voice was getting raspy, as if she was holding back her tears. She buried her face into her hand. “No one told me that the guy was a master at making poison. I lost miserably to him and I challenge him just in time for him to test his new poison. He told me that once the poison got into my blood stream, it would eat my chakra away and because it was now in my lungs, it will make sure I remembered that it was stealing my chakra and slowly killing me…”

*Flashback*
Amaya and a dark clothed man with his face over stood in the middle of a forest. Amaya looked exhausted and on her last bit of energy. The man grabbed her by her hair and blew some powder into her face. It made her gasp and gag as it entered both her nostrils and mouth. It stung and almost felt like acid. She blacked out.

“And now I’m going to die. Just because I need to impress my parents. Because of my stupid actions. I will never be the person my parents wanted me to be. Or I will never be a great ninja. Or even live a normal life!” sobbed Amaya. Naruto stared at her, not sure what to say.

The rain finally began to slow. However, it still rained hard. It had rained all night and it was beginning to get close to the morning. Amaya and Naruto still sat in the tree. Little words spoke between them. After Amaya cried, she was now very silent. Finally, she spoke…
“Thanks…” Amaya finally whispered.
“For what?” asked Naruto.
“For listening to my story.”
“No, thanks for telling me it.”
“Sorry for crying.”
“Why?”
“You probably think I’m weak.”
“What? For crying? We all cry. You had a good reason too. You shouldn’t be ashamed. It helps to cry, sometimes it helps gets things off your chest.” Naruto gave her a kind smile.
This surprised Amaya a bit, making her look away. “Do you cry?” asked Amaya.
“I used too. But I decided to stop crying.”
“Why?”
“I guess I just got tired off it.”
“Ohh…” whispered Amaya. They sat in silence once more.

“Hey! I think the rains finally giving up!” Naruto shouted out. It still rained but softer now.
Amaya looked over at Naruto. Then looked away. She felt selfish. She sat there with an umbrella and mostly dry but Naruto was soaked head to toe with no shelter. Even though they had the tree, the branches did not really give that much protection from the heavy rain. Amaya adjusted the umbrella so both her and Naruto’s heads were covered. Naruto looked up and blinked after not feeling drops of water on his head. He looked at Amaya who looked away shyly.
“Thanks,” he giggled.
“It’s the least I can do.” Amaya whispered, coughing into her free hand.
“Are you okay?” asked Naruto.
“Yeah...” Amaya said, shamefully.
Naruto looked away, feeling bad for reminding her about her illness.
“How about you? You’re probably catching a cold.” Amaya told him.
“Naw, I’m fine!” laughed Naruto. “Don’t worry about me.”
In unison, both of them sneezed.
“I guess I do have a cold,” he laughed, rubbing the back of his head.
“Yeah, me too.” Amaya added.

Silence once more. Both staring out into the open forest.
“Hey. What’s your name?” asked Amaya.
“I’m Naruto Uzumaki!” shouted Naruto. “The greatest ninja around.”
Amaya laughed softly, added with a cough. “I’m Amaya Huyana.”
“I made you laugh.” Naruto smiled, as if it was a one of the greatest achievements of his life.
“Because you’re a funny person, Naruto Uzumaki. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Amaya Huyana.”

Silence once more.
“Amaya?” asked Naruto
“Yes?” replied Amaya.
“Are you still going to run away to your village?”
“I don’t know.”
“I hope you don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because you can get better here and I want to get to know my new friend more.”
Amaya blinked and started at him. “Friend?” she whispered.
“Yeah!” smiled Naruto.
Amaya sighed, “Naruto, I’ll stay a little longer.”
“For real?” he yelled with excitement.
Amaya laughed “Yeah, for you.”

Soon the clouds cleared and the last raindrops were falling off the tree branches. “I think it finally stopped,” said Naruto. The morning sun broke through the night rain clouds. He and Amaya spent the whole evening to morning in the forest, in the rain. “Did ya hear me?” asked Naruto, placing a hand on Amaya’s shoulder. He was surprised to see Amaya had fallen a sleep. She looked somewhat peaceful. Her head rested on the umbrella’s handle, eyes closed, lips slightly parted as she breathed in and out with an even rhythm. ‘She’s kinda cute when she’s sleeping.’ Naruto thought. He yawned a bit, he was tired himself. He decided he had better bring Amaya to back to the hospital. The people there were probably going crazy. He giggled at the thought.
He picked Amaya up bridal style, careful not to wake her. He jumped off the branch and landed gracefully on the ground. The umbrella gently flew down from the branch too. Amaya’s grip had let it go when Naruto picked her up. Naruto somehow managed to get the umbrella closed and in his arms next to Amaya without waking her.

“Thank you.” The nurse, Zhi said. “Naruto, wasn’t?”
Naruto nodded and watched as Zhi removed Amaya’s sandals, stockings, gloves and fish net top, because they were wet. She left Amaya with only her purple tank and her pants, not getting her completely undress in front of Naruto. The nurse put a hospital jacket on Amaya to keep her warm and tucked her into bed. “I hope she didn’t cause you much trouble. Some how she just snuck past the night shift.”
“Naw, not at all. I just ran into her on my way back from training.” Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his head.
“I just don’t know why she has to be such a rebel. Well, anyway, thank you again.”
“Um...” started Naruto.
“Yes?” asked Zhi.
“I was just wondering. Why is her room so plain? I mean, there are no cards or flowers and most girls always have a room decorated with that kind of stuff.”
Zhi sighed, “Well, no one has sent her anything or even visited her from the village.”
“Why not? Haven’t her parents or friends stopped by?” asked Naruto
Zhi shook her head. “No. Sadly, I don’t think her parents care much about her or are on good terms with each other. And she didn’t really have any friends in our village.”
“Oh...” Naruto said sadly. Then he let out a sneeze.
“Are you okay?” asked Zhi. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his forehead. “No fever but your soaked to the bone. You must have a cold. I suggest you change into some dry clothes and get some rest.”
“Okay, thanks.” Naruto said. “Well, I got to go. Bye!” He waved goodbye and ran off.