Something to Fight For (Naruto)

Promising

It was him. There was no doubt in her mind. He had the same spiky blonde hair (though hers, of course, was longer and in pigtails), and his eyes were the same blue. They shared the same face, from the nose to the markings on their cheeks. If she was in her normal form instead of an Anbu one, she was positive they would be the same height. Their only difference was her more feminine features (as defined as they could be for a nine year old) and the way she stood was a lot more rigid.

Her heart went double, and a grin, the first one in forever, split her face. He was right there. Her brother, her twin. But know that she found him, what was she going to do.

Meanwhile, why this was going through her mind, he was internally freaking out. An Anbu had freaking grabbed him, and pulled him into an alley. Sure, she saved him from Iruka-Sensei, but why? Did the Hokage want him? Thinking back to all of his recent pranks, he could think of none that would warrant this. Gulping, he looked at her with wide eyes.

"What ya need lady?" He was glaring at her now, but Haruka clearly saw nervousness in his eyes. She smiled softly, but knew he wouldn't see it under the mask, so just shrugged. He blinked, then quickly got his glare back on.

"Well, why'd you grab me like that then!?!?" He wasn't yelling as loud as before, but was still undoubtedly loud, she noted as she once again shrugged.

Blinking rapidly, he gave up all pretenses of a glare. He was more confused than that time when Iruka-Sensei had kept him after class to try to explain some weird problem that letters and numbers and words involved. And that was completely foreign to him. "Do you even know who I am, lady?"

She shrugged again. A hopeful smile lightened her face under her mask. She knew who he was, but not his name or such like that. Wow, she thought. Just being near my brother is making me smile so much.

He smirked, and started fidgeting with his goggles. "Well, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna be the next Hokage! Believe it!" Uzumaki. Haruka Uzumaki. It had a ring to it she must admit, mostly due to the fact that she now knew her last name.

Seeing her silent, Naruto hmmphed and just left. If she wasn't even going to speak to him, he wouldn't speak to her.

Dazed, she let him leave. There was no way to explain her relationship to him and have him believe her words at the moment, so she would need to come up with a plan. Still disguised, she traveled to the nearby woods by rooftop and sat in a tree, thinking.

She soon decided there was only one way to approach the problem. She needed to go to him, not transformed, and hope for the best. She would do whatever she had to to get him to believe. Quickly, Haruka released the transformation (she had kept it on incase someone had wandered by) and went off into the village. It was dark, so few people were out, and that, along with her already dark clothing, kept her hidden.

Searching over roof tops, she saw him. He was hiding in a tree. She was extremely confused, until she saw what he was hiding from. A bunch of boys were near by, yelling his name.

"NARUTO!! You're gonna get it now, you brat! Show yourself!" Rage built in her stomach. They were going to hurt her nii-san. This was not acceptable. Still, if she killed them, she knew there would be no hope of staying there with Naruto. She could create a clone as a distraction, and make him transform, but she knew that would not work. The second the clone dissipated, they would continue their hunt until they caught the real one.

Haruka swiftly thought of an idea. Concentrating, she found Naruto's home by the chakra signature on it. It was a ratty apartment a block away. She sprinted there in a few seconds. Going in through the window, she took out a pair of his pants, shirt and jacket. She had on ninja shoes, so that wasn't a problem. She switched out her clothes for his put her original clothes in a bin outside. She used the bandages on her arms to bind her chest (it was as flat as a board, but you never know). Going into his bathroom, she used a kunai to trim her hair until it was like Naruto's. If you didn't look too closely, there was no difference.

All this had taken a minute, thanks to her speed and desperation. Once again arriving at the area with the bullies, she saw how close they were to her nii-san. They were three boys, genin at the least. She could not blame him for hiding. She probably would avoid them too if she were him.

Breathing deeply, she prayed they wouldn't notice her lack of goggles, and pretended to creep out from a nearby trash can. Purposely scraping her foot on the ground, she saw the tree bullies and Naruto look over at her in surprise. The genin immediately shouted and took off in chase. She made sure to mimic Naruto's running from what she saw earlier and headed off into the woods.

Naruto, meanwhile, was again, extremely confused. First a weird Anbu lady helped him and now he had a clone of himself taking the boys off him? Wait a minute... He thought sluggishly. What if I've become such an awesome ninja that I created a clone with out even meaning to! He nodded his head, deciding this must be the case. Climbing down from his perch, he jogged home, whistling happily.

Haruka made sure to get them far enough away that they would be secluded and no one would find them. If someone were to interrupt, this could mean trouble for Naruto later. After two minutes, she was fairly certain they were far enough and "tripped".

"Now we got you, Uzumaki!" Boy one pounced and kicked her in the face. She had had worse, but still made sure to yelp. She wasn't sure how Naruto would react to a beating, but assumed the usual.

"You little wimp!" Boy two joined in, giving her a good punch in the stomach. She just laid there and took it. Of course, she probably could have easily defended herself, but wanted the boys to let out their anger on her, and not Naruto. He was her brother, and even though she didn't know him, she would do her best for him. "We'll make sure you go home crying to your Mama!" Boy two continued, giving her another good right hook.

"That is, if you had one!" Boy three screamed at her, and pulled her hair, throwing her into a tree. She faked a whimper and some tears, but still glared for what she was worth. Naruto did not seem like the type of boy to abuse to quietly.

She started egging the three on, all the while processing what they had said. Even though they did not have any parents, Haruka didn't feel much remorse. She had Naruto, and that was all she needed.

After half an hour of the beating, they left, still jeering at her. Haruka was positive she had at least three broken bones and some nasty bruises and cuts. Thank kami she knew medical ninjustu. They had made her learn it when she was six at the base because, as they put it, "girls gotta know that shit, cuz they're always wimps when fighting." It was her first lesson, seeing as they had only expected her to learn that, and were very surprised when she went on to other things after only a year and a half.

Once relatively healed, Haruka decided something. She wouldn't tell Naruto about who she was. She would stay hidden, take falls for him, and help him out whenever possible, but always in the background. No one would know of her existence. This way, she could still take falls for him, and there was less of a chance of Rioko-sama finding her. Yes, this was best. While he trained, she would train.

She had found her purpose in life and this made her smile.

********************************************************

HEY!! The song on the side was what I had been listening to and told you about earlier! So, whatcha think? Sacrificing herself for her newly found brother? Pretty boss, yeah (but stalkerish)? Don't worry, I have a plan and it'll all work out in the end! Thank you, my children!