The Kekkei Genkai Curse

By Shiroihato

Sakura blushed, and silence prevailed. Slowly, the swing stopped, Naruto catching it. Kumo, who had seen the whole thing, smiled. Maybe those memories of hers were wrong after all. She came out from her hiding place in the top of a tree, not failing to notice how red the couple got.

"If I could steal her away from you for a little while, Naruto-san. Maybe we can work out some kind of schedule. Do you want to pick her up at five?" Kumo joked, trying to relieve the tension.

"Make it eight," he grinned, "pick you up at your apartment, Sakura-chan."

His girlfriend waved until he was out of sight, and then turned to the violet eyed medic.

"How long you been off duty?" she asked, noticing that Kumo had yet to change out of her uniform.

"Only about a half hour, 'Tsuki-chan. Come on, are you feeling up to a little basket ball? It will warm us both up."

"Yeah!"

Within a few minutes, they had secured a ball, and were dribbling up and down the court.

"Three points!" cheered Kumo, as the ball sunk through the hoop with a swishing sound.

"No fair!" her friend pouted, "You're taller!"

"Which is my fault...how?"

Sakura started to laugh, and then stopped. Clutching her stomach, she started to bend over.

"Chitsuki-chan?! Sakura?!"

Sakura struggled to get her breathing under control.

"What? This shouldn't be happening!"

Even as she thought the words, her pulse started getting quicker, and a burning sensation rippled through her limbs. Kumo went to brace her, only to be burned by fiery orange chakra...

-------

Tsunade looked at her peacefully sleeping student, and a very nervous-looking Kumo. Then she turned her gaze back to Naruto, who was still in shock.

"So you're telling me you attempted to use Kyuubi's chakra to heal her?"

Naruto nodded again, his face pale, as he rested his hand on the wall, staring at the girl who had seemed perfectly healthy earlier.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER! YOU PROBABLY JUST SHORTENED WHAT LITTLE TIME SHE HAS LEFT! KYUUBI'S CHAKRA DOESN'T HEAL ANYONE EXCEPT YOU!"

"Shhh!"

Kumo glared at her superior as Sakura stirred a little, and then settled down again.

"Naruto, get out." Tsunade’s voice was still angry, but it was softer. "Kumo, make sure the drug keeps her asleep so we can do what we need to do. I'll go get a Hyuuga."

"But..." Naruto protested.

"Get out!"

The blonde stumbled out into the hallway.

"You said it would heal her, fox!"

"And since when did you trust a kitsune, boy? A demon, no less? Although, I admit I expected the chakra's outwardly positive affect to last sometime, before any discoveries were made. Actually, I was hoping she'd be dead by that time. They'd have marked it off as an after effect of the disease."

Naruto had NEVER felt so much hatred before.

------

Kumo nervously wrung her hands together, which wasn't something she normally did. It was too feminine an action for her taste.

"Damn, Chitsuki," she swore, looking at the still unconscious Haruno, "You always could get to me."

Her mind wandered back to their first meeting.

Sorakono Kumo stopped, and looked emotionlessly to where a small pink-haired girl was being bullied by the little brothers of the local thug. At first, she didn't bother to do anything. The kid was pretty obviously from the good part of town. She had a clan symbol on the back of her little red sundress and everything. The bullying was her own fault. The kid had wandered from her own side of the city, straight onto the Kitayama boy's turf.

They wouldn't do anything too bad, probably just rough her up a little, and maybe take those fancy, strappy sandals of hers. They wouldn't do much more than that; they wouldn't want any grief from "The Upperside" and the seedy part of the city had dubbed its counter part. 'Sides the girl was only six. The boys were only seven or eight themselves, so nothing... inappropriate was gonna happen.

"Why should I care if she gets a few bruises?" Kumo thought, turning her back, and starting to look away “We all have our problems, me included. If she learns not to come down to our part of town now, when she's young, everyone will profit."

What she wasn't prepared for, though, was the little girl seeing her. The kid's eyes got all wide, and her face sort of lit up.

"Neechan!" she called to Kumo, "Neechan, please help me! I didn't wanna di- dis- disturb anyone I swear! I'm lost"

Kumo turned around, ever so slightly, and looked at the girls face. Slowly, she moved closer, so that she could look the pipsqueak in the eye. The little mouse flinched. The Kitayama twins grinned evilly, knowing how Kumo tended to get when she gave people that look.

Gingerly, the child reached out her hand for Kumo to help her up. The boys were expecting the sound of a slap. They were surprised, though. Kumo looked into the girl’s eyes for a minute, and then helped her up.

“K-Kumo!” The taller twin protested, “What are you doing?!”

“You do realize I’m almost three years older than both of you, right?”

“Y-yes.”

“And you remember what I did to Yoru last week?”

“Y-yeah”

“The girl said she was lost. And that’s where you better be going. Got it?”

The boys ran.

Kumo looked at the tiny creature who she had rescued.

“Same goes for you, squirt. Go home. Shoo.”

“But…but I’m lost.”

Kumo sighed.

“Come on then. I’d better take you home.”

“I knew it,” the child said quietly as they walked down the side of the road.

“Knew what?”

“Y-you act… well you act scary, but you’re actually good.”

Kumo tried not to look as taken aback as she felt. “And how do you know that? For all you know, I’m leading you to the forest for monsters to eat you, so I can make your bones into jewelry!”

To her surprise, the 6 year old laughed.

“You’re not!” she grinned, “I can tell from your eyes! You see, mommy says eyes are like windows to a person’s…what’s it called again? The invisible thing inside our bodies?”

“A soul?”

“Yeah, that thing. And yours must be good, ‘cause your eyes are kind, when you look real hard. Besides, there are no such things as monsters. Your eyes are pretty. I wish mine were purple-ly-blue, too, but there just plain green.”

“Hey don’t pout. At least you’ve got both eyes, ne? What’s your name anyway?”

“Haruno Sakura.”

“Sakura’s a pretty common name. I guess it’s pretty enough. But I’m not gonna call you a name every one else has got. We gotta come up with a nickname for you. How about…Chitsuki?”

“What does it mean?”

“Chitsuki is written with the kanji for “Millennium Moon.”

“Why do I get such a pretty name? I’m not very pretty. Everyone says my fore-head’s too big, and my eyes are too common.”

“Well they’re just talking shi- I mean, they’re lying. You’re Chitsuki-chan from now on, okay?”

“Chitsuki-chan? Does that mean we’re friends? I don’t have any friends…”

“Yeah,” Kumo grinned, stopping outside what she knew was the Haruno household, “I guess it does.”

“But there’s a problem!”

“And what would that be?”

“I don’t know your name.”

“My name’s Kumo. Hey, see you tomorrow Chitsuki-chan. I’ll meet you here, okay?”

Back in the present, Kumo smiled. Little Chitsuki had kept her almost-nine-years-old self out of a lot of trouble. They had always spent hours at the park together, and it had been the same girl who convinced her that 8 about to be 9 wasn’t too old to play pretend. To every one else Sakura was the shy girl, who never talked, but who you didn’t pick on unless you wanted a knuckle sandwich. However, around her new friend, Sakura had lots of questions.

“Kumo-neechan? Why’d you nickname me Chitsuki? Why that name?” Sakura asked one day while they were sitting on the Haruno’s front porch.

“Don’t you know, Chitsuki-chan? Your namesake is a… a… a moon princess, like Kaguya-hime. Yeah, in fact, she’s Kaguya-hime’s little sister. And her story is a lot like her neechan’s, you know? Except, she didn’t have to go live with some dumb bamboo guy, she grew up to be a beautiful healer and nobody ever tried to marry her off to people she didn’t like, cause everyone in the town wanted her to stay, that’s how wonderful she was. Anyway, Chitsuki-hime was real pretty. She had black hair and,” Kumo caught Sakura’s gaze, “and green eyes. Kaguya had violet –that’s purple-ly-blue- eyes, but Chitsuki’s were green. And she was really beautiful, and smart, but sweet and innocent, too. Everyone loved her. And she had this friend. Her name was…her name was Kai, one of the other words for ‘Umi’ (sea). And part of the reason they got along so well was cause their names were ‘Moon’ and ‘sea’. Iruka-sensei says the moon makes the tide, right? But Kai didn’t have a family, and Chitsuki's family were all bit- she didn’t like her earth family very much, so they were together all the time. And one day, Kaguya comes back, right after she left the bamboo guy, and says, "Hey sis, We gotta go.” And cause they were such good friends, and no one really cared if Kai left, Kaguya took them both up to the moon kingdom. And Kai and Chitsuki were princesses and made sure there was never another civil war on the moon again . Kai was a warrioress, and Chitsuki was a healer, and Kaguya was a queen, but everyone loved Kai and Chitsuki best. You remind me of Chitsuki, so you get her name."

Sakura smiled happily. Just then Sagami Haruno popped her head out the door. She didn't look happy at all.

"Kumo, I'd think you'd better go," she commanded, her tone low and angry, "Sakura come inside."

Waving sadly, Sakura walked inside.

"The truth is, Sakura-chan," Kumo whispered, once she was sure her friend couldn't hear her, "I lied. You don't remind me of the princess, cause she wasn't really like that. You're what she should have been."

Kumo smiled again, this time a little more sadly.

"Looks like when Kaguya comes, Kai and Chitsuki will be separated after all, kid," She whispered to her sleeping friend. Slowly, jade colored eyes opened and blinked at her.

"Chitsuki...and...Kai? What? Were you...talking about the old story you used to tell me?" the words came out slowly.

"Yeah," Kumo lied, "Just telling it to myself to pass the time. Damn, Chitsuki you have to stop scaring me like this!"

"I know...I'm sorry"

Kumo was about to reply, but for a small knock on the door. Ino walked in, with a fake smile on her face.

"Hey fore-head girl," she said in false cheerful voice, her worry showing in her eyes "Just heard you were back in this dump, and thought I'd stop by."

The blonde kept up the "Grin" (which, to Kumo,was looking more and more like a grimace every second) as she pulled up a chair. Never one to waste time on small talk, she instantly jumped to the point. "It's 29 days until your birthday, right? Why, I bet you, before you can even turn another year older, you'll be cured. That would make for a perfect birthday, ne? No worries at all!"

The Yamanaka wasn't at all prepared for what came next. Sakura suddenly burst into tears, and Ino had the feeling she was missing something. Kumo glared at the blonde, her icy attitude returning.

"Leave."

The command was quiet, but forceful.

"You heard me. Go. I need to calm her down, and she's not supposed to have visitors. Come back some other time."

The heart monitor started to race, and Sakura started moaning loudly, as orange colored chakra began to flow around her, burning her skin. Her breaths came in small short gasps, but she couldn't stop crying. And if that was the external, Kumo was very worried about what was actually going on inside.

"Damn," she swore, as she shoved Ino (who was protesting that she as well was a medic, and therefore needed to stay) out the door and hit the nurse call button, "Tsunade told me not to let her get upset. This must be why- her hormones and chakra systems don't know how to react to or make use of the Kyuubi's chakra. I'll need to sedate her before I do anything more." A few more 'colorful' words slipped out, as Sakura writhed in agony.

Kumo hoped that her single day of 'health' had been worth it, because things would only get worse from here on out.

---------

A moment of perfection is flocked by failure on either side. In that moment, though, there is only the right and the now. For just an instant we are free from what is coming next. However, we never know the price beforehand. No, it's something that waits to reveal itself until the very end. And to often, it's only when we get the bill that we realize we can't possibly pay the price. Because sometimes it's our families and friends, our happiness, or our health. Because, sometimes, the price is our very lives. And death is a stern debater.

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A/N: Hits Kyuubi over the head with a mallet Yeah, I know it's sad when I can make a character do something and then hate them as much as my readers. My excuse is that I didn't actually image up the Kyuubi. I'm just making use of him. Anywho, I think I finally got the soft side of Kumo expressed, thank goodness. Be forewarned: the whole Kai, Kaguya, and Chitsuki thing WILL be a major driving force for the story in my later chapters, so if you didn't read the note with the original legend in it back in "Flowers, Cranes, and Candles" I suggest you do so now.

Oh, and for the record, I know I , once again, postponed "The Last Birthday Party." I'm sorry. It'll come out next time for sure, as there is nothing else in the plot line that I have to finish. (I had actually planned for this to be the very beginning of "The Last Birthday Party" but it wanted to be its own chapter. I don't argue with my stories, as long as they come out sounding okay. And yes, I am crazy. XD) Yeah, Kyuubi did just nearly kill her, so feel free to yell at him...just not me!

About the title: Kumo's name (for those of you who, sadly, do not know) means "Cloud" and as "Chitsuki" means "Millennium Moon" I thought it was appropriate. For those of you who would correct me on any spelling/grammar issues, I just have this to say: I am doing almost all my writing on a computer with out Microsoft word, and I can't download open office or a similar program, so your lucky to get what you do. Actually, your lucky I'm writing at all- I HATE word pad!

Anko holds a kunai at your throat, an angry look on her face, until you click the review button. Tsunade cracks her knuckles

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