AN: Hey guys! So here's the next chapter! I hope you guys like it...

I must warn you...future chapters will start to get dark...(Cue evil laugh)

So ya, anyways, onto the chapter!


Disclaimer: I do now own Naruto...


A growl sounded throughout the cave, causing the two small foxes to shake in fear. The killing intent that rang through the air disturbed them and they wanted nothing more than to leave, but couldn't as their master had called for their presence. They tucked their tails between their legs and whimpered as the killing intent grew stronger. They huddled together as the rocks beside their feet started to shake and bounce with each thud that came from the cave.

Suddenly everything stopped and all was quiet. The two foxes quivered in fear, knowing that their master was near. A shadow grew over them and slowly, they looked up to see russet fur. They backed away as a body was dropped before them, guts spilling out over the rocky ground.

The scent of blood filled their nostrils and they backed away. The scent was familiar to them.

"Take her to Konoha." The voice was deep, gruff, raspy...it put fear in their hearts and shook them to the core. It was full of malice and pure evil. "Make sure the one with the blue eyes sees her."

They two foxes nodded their heads vigorously, wanting nothing more than to escape from their master's presence. They didn't know who their master talked of, or why he wanted them to take the body of this fox to a village of humans no less, but questioned their master none. They knew to fulfill their job, quick and efficiently, or they would meet the same end as this fox had.

Before they could retrieve the body and leave, a tail stopped them. A black piece of cloth was dropped in front of them and they were quick to pick it up.

"Now go."

They wasted no time in grabbing the body by the scruff of its neck and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Glowing eyes watched them leave before closing. Five russet tails swished behind the giant as it turned and retreated back into the cave. The night was once again, silent.


Naruto yawned as he awoke from a pleasant night's dream. He lazily got out of bed and started to prepare for the day ahead of him. He was in no hurry.

Naruto slipped on his favorite orange capris, along with a white t-shirt and his favorite orange and black jacket. He grabbed his forehead protector from its place on his nightstand and lethargically walked off into the kitchen. The place was empty, it seemed, being void of Hinata's blushing face and perfect demeanor.

Naruto frowned, noting in his head that he didn't quite like it when Hinata was away.

Naruto took a carton of milk from the fridge and started to prepare a cup of ramen as his breakfast. He was starting to miss Hinata's cooking and delicious breakfasts. Naruto opened a drawer and pulled out a small bowl. He poured some of the milk into it and heated it up a little over his stove. Once he deemed it warm enough, he placed it on the floor and called for its owner.

"Keiko!"

Said fox came bounding into the kitchen, stumbling slightly, following her sense of smell to locate the source of its meal. She found the bowl and started to happily lap the milk away.

Naruto took his now steaming cup of ramen and sat down at the table. He took a slow drink from the cartoon, feeling the refreshingly cool liquid run down his dry throat. He lazily picked up his chopsticks and started slurp up the noodles, enjoying the taste that was purely instant ramen.

"You won't be safe forever….." A voice whispered.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he frantically looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. But there was no one in his apartment, other than Keiko and him. A shiver ran down his spine and goose bumps appeared on his skin. Naruto gulped.

"W..who said that?" He questioned, turning around to look behind him, hands grasping the back of his chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He was shaking.

"Heed this as a warning…." It whispered again.

Naruto glanced furiously around, but there was no one there. No chakra traces, no presence, nothing. Naruto shot out of his chair, grabbing his headband and Keiko before dashing to the front door and out of his apartment.

He wasted no time locking the door and running down the steps in a mad panic. He stopped shortly outside, clutching the fox kit who whined because its breakfast had been disturbed. He took in deep breaths to calm his pounding heart. Naruto tried to tell himself that it was all his imagination….that nothing had happened. But he couldn't convince himself of that….because it had happened.

Naruto placed Keiko on the ground who instantly sat by his foot, rubbing against his leg with her head as to not lose his presence. Naruto quickly tied his headband around his head and picked the kit up again.

"Here, Kei-chan. Into my jacket you go." Naruto placed the kit into his jacket before zipping it up until Keiko's head stuck out, her little paws griping the top of his jacket.

Naruto smiled down at her and kissed the top of her furry head before starting off towards the village. Normally he wouldn't go out with Keiko in tow, but he couldn't just leave her in his haunted apartment. Usually he left a clone to watch over her so she wouldn't be alone, but even he wasn't cruel enough to leave his clone in there where all its memories of ghosts would be transferred back to him.

Naruto decided he would take a walk until it was time to meet up with Hinata who was back in her own apartment. Sakura had found out that she had been staying with Naruto and had deemed it unacceptable for her to be staying with a guy she had only been dating for a month.

Naruto sighed, walking along the dirt path. Everything seemed so oddly peaceful. Konoha was usually busy and bustling by the time seven thirty rolled around the corner. But today was different. There was hardly a soul in sight….

He continued his walk down the path, Keiko sniffing the air curiously from her place inside his jacket. She suddenly shrank back into the jacket as they neared the center of town.

"Eh? What is it, girl?" Naruto asked, reaching up to rub a hand through the soft fur of her head.

Keiko gave no sign of having heard him. She only whimpered and tried to hide further into the jacket. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her actions and said nothing. Something seemed to have spooked her, otherwise she wouldn't be curled up tightly inside his jacket, shaking and quivering.

He continued on his way, mindful that every step he took towards the center of the village, the more Keiko trembled.

Naruto furrowed his brow as he neared a large crowd of people. They were murmuring and talking so quietly that he couldn't make out what they were saying.

He walked to the edge and tried to pier over them to see what they were crowded around, but all he could see was the back of their heads. He tried to jump, but couldn't do so as it would jar Keiko who was hidden inside his jacket.

So instead, he started to push through the crowd, both arms hugged around his chest where Keiko was hiding, protecting her from being visible or bumped by a stray elbow.

Naruto finally broke through the frontlines of the crowd and almost fell face first into the carcass of a bloody, blue fox. Naruto gasped and took a step back. The smell of death lingered through the air and flies were already starting to circle around the fox, ready to prey upon its innards that spilled from its crushed sides.

He gulped looking over to see other ninja already on the scene. They were slowly dispersing the crowd, saying that there was nothing to see.

"Nani? How did this fox get here?" He mumbled, gazing down curiously, albeit with a little sadness, at the dead animal.

Sakura, having heard the blond ninja, walked over to him. "We don't know…One of the villagers just found it lying here. No one seems to know who killed it or who left it here."

Naruto nodded and watched as Sakura left, moving to back the crowd away. He was about to leave himself, but as he turned around, he stepped on something.

Upon glancing down, he saw he had stepped on what appeared to be a piece of black cloth. Naruto removed his foot and reached down to pick it up. He held it up to the sun for a better view and saw that it was an eye patch.

"An eye patch?"

Suddenly, as if he had been pulled into a dream, Naruto saw long deep claws slashing at him. He felt himself being cut and torn into over and over again. He felt like screaming, but he couldn't. His vocal chords had been slashed and severed.

He saw glowing red eyes and a voice boomed into the darkness.

"You failed."

Naruto gasped, eyes shooting open, only to find that he was still standing in front of the dead fox. Nothing had happened. He had been here the whole time.

"Genjutsu?" He whispered, looking at the eye patch and then back at the fox.

Was that how the fox had died? Did some other beast kill it, not a human or ninja? What did it mean, "You failed"?

Recognition suddenly shot through him and he spun around to look at the fox. Its fur was matted with blood, and its color was hardly recognizable, but if he squinted, Naruto could still make out a blue hue.

"Eye patch fox!" He shouted, suddenly remembering the fox that had wanted to kill Keiko.

He glanced at the eye patch he held clutched in his left fist and then back to the deceased fox. Why had something killed her?

Naruto knew he had to report his findings straight to Tsunade, the Hokage. Surely she would help him understand what this all meant…The fox, Keiko, the voice he had heard in his apartment, the genjutsu that had just been used on him…..maybe they were all related…..but how?

He moved to head to the Hokage's tower, but only managed a couple of steps before a cold, hard voice stopped him.

"The time to strike is coming….."

Naruto whipped around, but found no one there. He searched frantically for the owner of the voice, but found none.

"The time will come….soon…."


Instead of going to Tsunade first, Naruto ran to find his girlfriend. He needed to fill her in on the facts before he went to the Hokage.

Naruto avoided using her door, as he usually entered through a window or something. Plus he really didn't like the people she lived by…..

"Hina-chan!" Naruto burst through her open window, setting Keiko down on the floor, only to stop and stare wide eyed at a shocked Hinata who was in a state of undress.

They both turned red and Naruto slapped a hand over his eyes and backed away.

"Gomen!" He shouted, before walking forward quickly, trying to escape the embarrassment that hung through the air.

But upon walking forward, he tripped over a lamp chord, sending him stumbling towards the wall, and face first out of the window.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted, dropping her shirt and rushing to save her boyfriend from plummeting from the six-story building.

Hinata caught him by the back of his jacket, saving him before he could make it fully out of the window. Naruto yelped and struggled to get back inside the apartment.

Hinata leaned over him and helped pull him back in. Naruto felt himself being hoisted back up, Hinata leaning over him with her front pressed fully against his back. He couldn't contain the blush that spread over his already red cheeks.

With one last tug, Naruto made it back inside, but Hinata pulled a little too hard, causing the two to topple to the floor. Naruto tried to maneuver out of the way to avoid falling on her back first, but only seceded in turning around. They hit the floor with a thud.

Naruto groaned, but it seemed to come out muffled. He had landed on something soft….and squishy it seemed. He slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with the sight of Hinata's pink bra. Realization shot through him and he slowly looked up to see Hinata blushing like mad. He had landed face first into her breasts!

Naruto blushed furiously and tried to get up, but his ankle tangled in the lamp chord, causing him to fall back onto the girl below him. He managed to catch himself just in time, each hand by her head, their noses only inches apart. Hinata turned beat red and Naruto's blush grew. He was on top of a half-naked Hinata…

Naruto gulped and stared wide eyed at her before he frantically tried to get off of her before she realized his growing "problem".

He seceded in untangling his foot and managed to get off of her. Naruto helped her up, practically shouting apologies the whole way through. He turned around to give her time to put a shirt on.

Maybe he should of used the door like a normal person...


Naruto sat on Hinata's couch, staring at his hands, a permanent blush on his cheeks. Hinata sat only inches away from him, her face stained red as well. Neither had spoken much after the incident that had just occurred. They only sat there in what seemed to be an awkward silence.

Naruto looked at his girlfriend from the corner of his eye and took a deep breath.

"I..um...sorry...you know...for um...back there..." He stuttered, avoiding eye contact.

Hinata blushed. "I...it's fine...you didn't mean to..."

Naruto blushed as well, fiddling with his hands. The image of a half-naked Hinata was now permanently burned into his brain. Naruto cleared his throat and was about to say something, but the mysterious voice he had been hearing all day beat him to it.

"Beware….the one with the blue eyes shall die…."

"Gah!" Naruto gave a girly shriek before jumping over to where he held on to Hinata for dear life, burying his face in her neck. "Make it stop, make it stop!" he mumbled, willing for the voice to go away.

The ghost seemed to have followed him from his apartment!

"Naruto-kun!?" Hinata exclaimed, looking down at her blond companion in shock.

"Hinata-chan….make it go away!"

"Make what go away?"

Naruto pulled away and held her at an arm's length. "The voice! The voice that has been talking to me all morning!"

Hinata furrowed her brow. "You're not making any sense."

"This morning I was in my apartment, just eating my ramen along with Keiko, and then, out of nowhere, a voice said, "You won't be safe forever."" Naruto imitated the voice by making his deep. "And then when I looked around, there was no one there! And then it said to heed its warning. That's when I grabbed Keiko and got the heck out of that apartment. We took a walk, Keiko and me, and as we neared the center of town, Kei-chan started to get a little shaky and whined. There was a dead fox just lying there, blood and guts everywhere. People thought that someone must have killed it, but they didn't know who. That's when I found this."

Naruto reached into his pocket and handed Hinata the eye patch he had found.

"As soon as I touched it, I was sucked into this genjutsu thing. It was terrible, Hina-chan. I was being slashed and torn, all the while this pair of evil glowing eyes watched me. I tried to scream, but I couldn't. And then I heard this voice saying something like, "You failed." Then I was back. That's when I realized that the dead fox was the eye patch fox! The one that tried to kill Keiko!"

Hinata's eyes widened as she tried to take in all the information that was being explained to her.

"And then I heard the voice again, the one that had spoken to me in my apartment. It said the time to strike is coming. And then, the time is coming….soon. And I heard the voice again, just now. Here, in your apartment. It said, beware…the one with the blue eyes shall die! Hina-chan! What does this mean!? Who's talking to me!?"

Hinata ran her fingers over the black cloth, brow furrowed. She had no idea who had been talking to Naruto, but she did know that somehow, everything that had happened that morning was tied together.

"Did you talk to Tsunade-san about this?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope. I had to tell you first cause you were there when that eye patch fox tried to take Keiko back after we had found her."


They had decided to keep everything from Tsunade until they figured out what exactly was going on. There was no need to get everybody in a panic when it may all just be coincidental.

Naruto had spoken to Kurama about everything and the fox's only reaction was a harsh growl. He wouldn't tell Naruto anything and ordered him to leave. Naruto figured that it may have been his other half talking.

But still….the events of that morning were starting to worry him. Why was he the only one hearing this voice? Why had the eye patch fox died? How it all was connected?

After he had talked to Hinata, the voice had seemed to stop talking to him, but Naruto had noticed a drastic change in Keiko's behavior. The fox kit would wither around in the floor at times, almost like it was being possessed. It couldn't walk straight and would suddenly start gagging, like it was trying to throw up something.

Both Naruto and Hinata were worried for the kit. They didn't know what was wrong with it.

They could only worry for her wellbeing and hope for the best.

Naruto watched worriedly from his perch on the couch as Keiko lay beside him in a fitful sleep. He rubbed a hand through her fur soothingly, trying to calm the tremors that ran throughout her small body.

"Shhhhh…" He soothed. "It's okay, Kei-chan….shhh, it's okay."

Keiko's whining calmed a little, but she still trembled and withered. Naruto sighed, draping the edge of his blanket over her small body. Hoping that she would be okay, Naruto tossed his jacket aside and lay there staring up at the ceiling.

He could hear Hinata in the other room, getting ready for bed herself. Naruto couldn't help but think that something big was going to happen. He just had this feeling in his gut that something bad, something….horrible…..was going to happen.

Fear gripped his heart and he was quick to sit up. He carefully wrapped the blanket around Keiko and picked her up before making his way towards Hinata's bedroom.

Naruto opened the door and made his way inside the room before closing the door softly behind him in order to not wake Keiko who he held in his arms. Quietly, he tiptoed to the side of her bed and with his free arm; he reached out and poked her.

Hinata stirred in her sleep, but otherwise did not wake. Frowning Naruto poked her again, this time a little harder to get her attention.

"Hina-chan." He whispered, hoping that would wake the sleeping beauty that lay before him.

Hinata's eyes fluttered open and she looked up to see Naruto staring down at her.

"Naruto-kun?" She muttered, sleepily, sitting up to rub her sleep filled eyes.

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Can we sleep with you tonight? Please?" He gave her the puppy eyes look and Hinata couldn't resist.

She giggled. "Fine."

"Yay!" Naruto smiled, climbing into the bed, crawling under the covers and laying Keiko down gently beside him.

Hinata instantly cuddled up to his arm and soon fell asleep. Naruto smiled softly at her, raising an arm to brush the hair from her eyes.

The feeling in his gut had yet to subside and Naruto could only lay awake, ready to protect his love and their Keiko. He would never let anything happen to them.

He soon drifted off into a deep slumber, never noticing the voice that whispered quietly across the room.

"The time draws near…..the one with the blue eyes….beware…."


AN: More from the mysterious monster...thing. Any idea as to who he may be? :3

(^_^)/ So updates should be a little more frequent from here on out. School will be out next friday (yay!) so I'll have a ton of free time to write the chapters. Thanks to my beta, my grammatical errors are starting to die down each chapter (again, yay!) I already have about 3,000 words of the next chapter written well, 2,230 to be exact, but I'm almost there! Since it takes my beta about a day or two to get the corrected chapters back to me, it gives me time work on the next chapter before I post!

So the next update should happen either this weekend or early next week at the latest. Hopefully...

Also, thanks to all of you who have been faithful and supportive to this story. It means a lot guys. When this story is finished (which probably won't be anytime soon. It'll probably go on 25-30 chapters at the most) I'm going to like, make an entire page dedicated to you guys to post at the end of this story. So all of you have reviewed, faved, and followed will have your name on that dedication page. Yay!

Well I guess that's all I got to say :)

~Scarlet Moons