Naruto: Winds and Changes

For the Saturday Naruto had continued his training until Sunday, the day he normally let his body rest and the day he had a date with Yugito. Learning what he could and working on his physical fitness and jutsu. There was only one issue that had come up and that was when the blond had noticed Kyuubi acting distant, well more distant than usual.

Flashback…

(Saturday)

Naruto grinned in satisfaction as he watched the tree fall to the forest floor as it was sliced all the way through. It was one of the small trees that seemed to line the bottom of the forest, but it was still a decent size. 'Yes! I think I got this technique down Kyuubi. It's too bad I can't test it on steel, but I really don't know where I would get some for such a random purpose. So what's next?'

He waited a few seconds but frowned when Kyuubi didn't answer him. 'Kyuubi?' Naruto called her name several more times and when none of it got her to answer decided to travel into the seal.

Naruto found himself standing outside of Kyuubi's small hut when he entered his mind. He walked up to the door and knocked on it a few times. When he still got know answer he knocked again, and frowned when he still got no answer.

Despite his slight fear of getting on the red-head's bad side he opened the door and walked in. he spotted Kyuubi as soon as he entered. She was lying on her large velvety bed, facing away from him. He knew she already knew he was here and so didn't bother masking his presence as he walked up to the bed. He crawled onto the bed and sat next to the vixen's slowly breathing form.

"Kyuubi, I know you're awake." Naruto said, watching her for any movement, "What's eating you? Normally you would have at the very least insulted me by now…"

"Nothing," Kyuubi said, however Naruto noted that her voice was distant.

"You can't lie to me. In fact you're the worst liar I've ever had the pleasure of meeting." Naruto put a hand on her shoulder and noticed it stiffen, "now why don't you tell me what's wrong."

However Kyuubi was unable to answer as her mind was focused on the hand Naruto had placed on her shoulder. There was an unusual warmth radiating from the hand that had spread from her shoulder and through the rest of Kyuubi's body. That, combined with her shock at someone actually touching her, having the gull to touch her, left her speechless.

"Kyuubi?" Naruto continued to shake her, wondering what the hell was up with the woman, she had never acted like this before. "C'mon…tell me what's wrong; you know I can't really work on the stuff you want me to if you're not even around to critique me."

It took a few seconds, but after a moment Kyuubi seemed to relax and turned around to look at the blond, "Look, nothing's wrong I'm just… not feeling up to doing anything today."

"Are you upset because of what happened yesterday?" asked Naruto, taking a shot in the dark. However when he saw Kyuubi look away he knew he had hit the nail on the head, "That's it isn't it? The way that waitress treated me bothers you doesn't it?"

Kyuubi scowled, "Of course not! Why would I care about how some foolish humans treat you? The only thing that I care about is that you allowed such trash to treat you like that!"

Rather than get angry Naruto just smirked, "If that was what you were concerned about you wouldn't act so distant." His smirk widened as Kyuubi looked away, "I'm right aren't I? It bothered you to see how she treated me." The blond shook his head, "you know I'm surprised, you never seemed to care about me being hated before."

Kyuubi frowned for a moment and for an instant her eyes showed a small flash of emotion that was too quick for Naruto to catch. A second later she scowled at the blond and sat on the bed facing away from the blond, "I don't care about you, or how you're treated beyond how it reflects on me… now leave."

"Fine," Naruto stood up and was about to leave before deciding to pass a parting comment. "You know, I don't blame you for what happened anymore. Sure I may still hold some resentment towards you, but you seem to be just as much a victim as me... and I guess everyone, even you deserve a second chance. Consider this yours."

Kyuubi's eyes widened and she turned around only to see Naruto had already left.

Flashback end…

After that little incident Naruto had left Kyuubi alone, and eventually she came back as if nothing had happened. Though even though they had tried to get back on track, both had noticed a small shift in their relationship, though neither could tell what it meant.

After that Sunday had rolled around, which was the date Naruto had a date with Yugito.

"This is really nice," Yugito commented as she and Naruto sat by one of the lakes that could be found in Konoha's many parks. "There's almost no vegetation in Kumo, so I don't often get to enjoy nature like this. It's really beautiful here."

Naruto smiled, "I suppose it is. I've lived here my whole life so I guess I've taken it for granted." The blond slurped up some of the noodle goodness that Yugito had brought for him, "Mmmmm. Ramen…"

Wanting to do something she had never gotten to do in Kumo, Yugito had decided that she wanted to go on a picnic. When Naruto had met up with her she had already gotten all of the food prepared, some of which included Naruto's favorite noodle dish.

"I don't know how you managed to guess my favorite food and I don't care," Naruto moaned in appreciation. "If you're trying to get on my good side, I'd say you succeeded the moment I smelled this delectable dish."

Yugito choked on her food a bit as she began laughing, "Actually it was no guess. It was rather easy to find out what you liked and buy it. After all, 'gathering accurate information is necessary for a shinobi' right?" she said in her best Naruto voice.

"Hardy har har," Naruto grunted in sarcasm, before slurping up more ramen. "You're just lucky I have this ramen so I can't stay mad at you."

"Aww. Are you saying you would be mad at me?" Yugito gave him the puppy dog eyes…kitten eyes, which on her exotic feline eyes looked incredible sexy, "I was only teasing."

Naruto blushed a bit but still favored her with a grin, "Well…I guess I wouldn't be too mad if I didn't have ramen."

Yugito matched his grin with her own before taking a bite out of her tekkadon, "We both know that you wouldn't be able to stay mad at all. I've only known for a little while but I know you're too sweet to stay mad at me."

"Don't look too into it. I just can't stand the thought of making such a pretty girl cry," Naruto huffed as he looked away, grinning when Yugito began to giggle "Hey Yugi-chan, I was wondering something?"

"Hmmm?" Yugito hummed around a mouthful of food.

"While I only saw a little bit of your ability, you strike me as someone who is way too skilled to be just a Genin."

Yugito smirked, "What makes you say that?"

"Well for one, your walk. It's the same kind of walk I've seen in many of the Jonin-senseis and a few other veteran ninja I know. You act more confident than the average Genin as well, and unlike the average Genin you don't hold any of their arrogance. There was also the speed you used in that battle with Kiba, the only person I know who is that fast besides myself is Lee, and I get the feeling you were holding back. That technique you used as well also looked like a very high level jutsu and complicated." Naruto listed off, "So I was just wondering, how are you still a Genin?"

Yugito debated on not telling him before shrugging, it didn't really matter in the end whether he knew or not, and the Raikage had not specifically told her not to tell anyone, "Truthfully I'm not. I was just never technically given Jonin status, or even Chunin status. Most of my younger life was spent training, and after that the Sandaime Raikage wanted me to gain more experience and had sent me out on solo missions…" There was a small pause and Naruto frowned as he saw a fleeting moment where pain had been evident in her eyes.

I guess she wasn't always respected in Kumo, Naruto thought to himself.

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