Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Within the Pale White Light ❯ Dumb Fu...fox ( Chapter 9 )

AN: I guess I need to explain some more. Timeline wise…I’m messing with stuff big time. As I said this is happening at the very beginning to Halo2 at New Mombasa. Now to answer Crow T Robot’s questions is that things get a little weirder with the Covenant. In this story, The Arbiter and Tartarus go straight to earth after the Heretic scene. The Prophet of Regret hasn’t ‘bugged’ out as they say and the ship that Gaara and Temari are on is in orbit just outside the kill zone. Which for those that don’t know what that means, is out in space just out of range of the MAC guns. The way things are going is that without Master Chief there the UNSC and the Covenant have kind of come to a standstill. Neither are attacking or backing down yet. A stale mate if you would.

The reasons there are a few survivors of the Heretics is because not all of them were on the station when the Arbiter hit. These renegades were sent as spies into the Covenant, not just for Information but also to try and convert as many as they could. But now thanks to the Arbiter they have no where to go. They are stuck and have to ‘play along’ and keep pretending to be loyal Covenant troops.

Hope that answers any and all question. Remember I don’t mind questions as long as they are intelligent. I would like to think that questions mean that I’m not getting across what I meant to in said chapter…and I’ll either put the answer in a AN like this, or I’ll make a point to explain in the next chapter.

And the question why are they in the halo verse isn’t a question that’ll be answered anytime soon. Sorry but that’s a big big secret and won’t be revealed for awhile. After all why should you know when not even the Naruto crew do. That and I just like to torture my readers :P

I have art. Well kind of art, more like quick sketches. I don’t have any real drawing paper (curses to the printer paper) cause I have no money to buy any. So these are just quick sketches. Later when I actually get some decent paper I’ll try to draw something awesome.

Hmm that’s a long AN so I’ll leave it at this, enjoy chapter 9

000000000000

Sam clutched his middle in pain. He was in hell. Surrounded by Covenant…watching his friends backs as they left him behind. He would protect them, his life was forfeit.

His armor had been pierced. He no longer had a seal to protect him from the vacuum of space. He would die…his eyes ripped out of their sockets and all the horror that came from decompression. Or he could die keeping the Covenant busy while their ship blew up.

It wasn’t a hard choice.

He was a Spartan, he didn’t fear death.

Chuckling softly to himself, he had to admit John had balls. He liked how professional John had been about leaving him behind. He saw the truth and had accepted it. No fuss no worries. There had been no long goodbyes…not that there was time. Just a nod and off they went. Kelly had been less…agreeable to it. But when things came down it to. She was a Spartan too. She had left him following Johns orders.

Sam was sad though, he knew that while John had accepted it he would never get over it. His death would probably haunt John for a long time.

“I don’t want that John. Stuff like that on your mind will get ya killed.”

John didn’t answer. Sam shook his head. Of course John didn’t answer. He was no doubt already out of comlink range. He wondered how soon till the bomb went off.

“Well…”

Sam muttered as he realized that he was alone. He knew he didn’t have long, and rather just sitting around waiting for death, he wanted to go hunting for it. He wanted to stare death in the face, laughing and egging it on.

Smiling viciously Sam reloaded his rifle. As backup he took a plasma gun off one of the numerous grunts that littered the floor. He wasn’t finished yet. He could still fight.

Picking a random hallway Sam went running down it.

He was going to pick a fight.

Opening his eyes Sam took a deep breath.

A dream. Just a dream. Damn it.

Sitting up Sam looked around him. For a moment he couldn’t get his bearings. He wasn’t sure where he was, although he didn’t worry. If he was asleep then no doubt someone was on watch. No one was yelling, so where ever he was had to be reasonably safe.

Oh ya. We’re on a mission.

Shaking his head, Sam tried to clear the cobwebs.

They had been scouting the teleportation pad of the Covenants. They were under orders to observe and if the opportunity came about to destroy the pad. It was well guarded however, Elites fairly swarmed the pad. There were blues, reds and even some ultras. A score of grunts, Jackals and even a hunter pair.

Wonder how long I’ve been asleep.

Rolling over Sam grabbed his helmet and put it on. In the left hand corner of the visor was the time, military standard.

Almost 4 hundred hours. Why hasn’t Linda woken me up yet.

Rubbing the back of his neck as he sat up Sam pondered his dream.

It was when they had infiltrated that Covenant cruiser and he got left behind. He had run off to go pick a fight…and…well he didn’t remember anything after that.

They found me in a Covenant escape pod.

Sam had no memory, of finding the escape pod, or getting in it. Hell he didn’t even remember being found. Apparently he’d been fighting though.

Sam touched the scar on his cheek. It was large, going from his hairline all the way down to his cheek. The Medics couldn’t be sure but they guessed it was from a plasma sword. He must have just missed it. Any deeper and it would have cleaved his face in two.

Glancing around Sam forced his body to get up. He was getting older, as much as he hated to admit it. His body wasn’t like it used to be, after all he was almost 42 years old now. Although luckily, the augmentations seemed to have a side effect of delaying the effects of aging. He might be 42 but he looked closer to 30...well looked it. After all the beatings he’d taken over the years he didn‘t feel 30.

But hey at least he looked good. Macho scars and all.

Making his way silently through their hiding place, Sam found Linda. As expected she had her sniper rifle out, gazing at the large number of Covenant soldiers guarding the pad.

“Morning.”

Sam whispered. They were far enough away that Sam doubted they could be overheard even if they screamed, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Why didn’t you wake me? Your shift was over almost 2 hours ago.”

Linda didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally she lowered her weapon so she could look at Sam.

“You looked like you needed the extra sleep.”

Linda looked away, but not before Sam saw something in her eyes. She almost looked worried. But no…that wasn’t Linda. She didn’t worry about anything. She was cold, distant. A great sniper but also a lone wolf.

Before Sam could ask she continued.

“Nothing has happened. Even the changing of the guard didn’t reveal any weakness.”

Sam glanced over, with just his eyes he could barely make out the pad.

“This is beginning to sound like an impossible mission.”

Linda nodded.

“It would take a dozen platoon of marines to take out this location”

“And we would probably lose most of them in the fight.”

“It would be suicide.”

Sam agreed.

“And who’s to stop the Covenant from just setting up another pad?”

Linda sighed, as she slumped back against the wall.

“Nothing.”

Frowning Sam placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You look tired. Go to sleep I’ll take over here.”

Linda shrugged his hand off as she turned away from him. She started to pack up her few things readying for Sam’s shift.

That…was cold. It also kind of hurt, and it showed in Sam’s face. Weren’t they family. They always looked out for each other. It annoyed, and worried him sometimes that maybe Linda was taking this lone wolf thing to far.

Suddenly he remembered something. He smiled brightly making Linda give him a funny look as he started to dig through several pockets that lined the insides of the armor.

“Ah ha!”

He exclaimed as he held up his prize.

“Who wants some chocolate covered cherries.”

It wasn’t a large box and he wondered if maybe they hadn’t gotten squished at one point. But hell they would still taste good.

Linda’s eyes got wide. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had had chocolate. It was something of a rarity out in space.

“Where?”

“Not telling.”

Sam said smiling as he opened the box. He was tempted to start gorging himself but instead held out the box to Linda.

“Ladies First.”

Linda gave him a look. Sam shrugged sheepishly. Linda was about as far from a lady as he could get. Not many women could kill you without you even knowing you were dead. Hell not many men could do it either.

The bullets in Linda’s gun were faster than sound, so you actually got shot before you heard the bang.

“Thanks.”

She muttered softly as she took one of the cherries.

Sam popped a cherry in his mouth. Damn these things tasted better every time he had them.

“So…want to tell me what’s buggin you?”

Linda paused, her mouth worked slower over the chocolate as she savored the taste.

“You talk in your sleep.”

She finally said.

Sam raised an eyebrow as he chewed on another cherry. Was that it? Linda was upset over something he said in his sleep. Surely that wasn’t it.

“I talk in my sleep? What did I say?”

Linda turned her head, staring out into the night.

“Linda?”

“You never told anyone what happened?”

“What happened?”

“On that Covenant ship.”

Sam couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. That happened like 4 months ago.

“I told you, I told everyone. I don’t remember. Concussion and memory loss you know what the doctors said.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Oh come on Woman!”

Sam threw up his arms in frustration.

“Do you honestly think I would keep something like that from you guys.”

Linda stared at him a long moment before lowering her head and saying.

“Its late. You take watch, I need to sleep.”

Sam blinked as Linda started to walk past him. Now he was getting angry. Did she honestly believe that he was holding out on them. Did she believe he was lying to her.

Before he even realized what he was doing he had grabbed Linda by the arm and had pushed her up against the wall. If it had been anyone else their arms would have been snapped in two. Linda didn’t even wince at the flesh bruising force he put on her arm.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You‘re calling me a liar? You‘ve been ignoring me when we‘re not on missions? Why damn it?”

Their faces were close, Sam could see the speckles of brown in Linda’s green eyes. He could see the light freckles that dotted her cheeks. She met his eyes defiant and slightly angry that he was man handling her like this.

Sam opened his mouth to say something…when Linda did about the most shocking thing EVER. She leaned forward and she claimed his lips in a kiss. It wasn’t passionate or fiery, in fact it was almost shy, but it was a kiss and it about made Sam’s head explode in shock. Taken completely by surprise Sam stood there. He let go of her arm.

Ok…now what the hell?

“Dumb Fuck.”

She hissed against his cheek as she broke the kiss. Pushing against him, Sam stumbled back. Linda her cheeks slightly flushed turned away and went down the steps that lead to their sleeping area.

Sam just blinked.

What the hell man. I mean…fuck what the hell.

“What the hell?”

He muttered as he tried to make his mind work. Now that had been unexpected.

Dude that was my first kiss.

He’d never been interested in woman, or men before. None of the Spartans had been to his knowledge. It was a side effect of the augmentations. Dr. Halsey had gone into detail about it a long time ago when they started to have regular missions with normal soldiers. She wanted them to know, so they didn’t think they were abnormal.

He was 41 years old, he’d never been on a date, never kissed until now, and frankly he hadn’t cared. He had much more important things to do than go about courtships and breeding.

Swallowing Sam forced himself to go to the Sniper rifle and scope. Lowering the eye piece on his helmet he hooked up the connection so he didn’t have to look through the scope.

He felt strange, something was tight inside his chest. He didn’t know what to do about it. He’d never felt this before. He was fairly certain it wasn’t a wound or anything. Maybe the scars on his chest were just tightening up. Scar tissue will do that to a person. The tissue isn’t flexible and if not kept moisturize would shrink up a bit.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the kiss. Even if his lips did kind of tingle a bit.

Sam stared at the box of forgotten chocolate. The reaching down he took one of the candies and stuck it in his mouth.

He didn’t want to think about this right now. It was to confusing and that was the last thing they needed on this mission.

Just focus on the pad. The Covenant bastards…just focus on them and what they are doing.

“Easier said than done.”

He muttered to himself before grabbing another piece and eating it.

0000

Naruto was bored. There was nothing to do in this bell tower. Kankuro had done a good job getting food and stuff for an extended stay, but there wasn’t so much as a scroll and ink to write on to pass the time.

Shifting on his bean bag, Naruto tossed the apple Kankuro had given him in the air.

He was craving some Ramen, but stupid Sand-nin hadn’t gotten any. Seriously how could one expect to survive on veggies and what he guess was some kind of canned meat. Naruto couldn’t read the words on the cans, but he could guess from the pictures on them.

He wasn’t hungry enough to dig into whatever that stuff was.

Looking down Naruto poked at his bullet wound. It was healing good now. In fact other than some soreness he was almost healed.

“About time you did something about that.”

Naruto complained to his tenant. The fox grumbled and stirred within him.

Not my fault brat.

Naruto smiled actually kind of glad that the fox had started to talk to him again. Leaning back Naruto tossed the apple again.

“I’ll believe that when you explain everything.”

Naruto felt the fox sigh.

I’m not sure what’s happening.

“But you have an idea?”

Hmmm yes I have an idea.

The fox paused. Naruto could almost hear the mumbling as the Fox seemed to be talking to himself. Naruto frowned as a few strange images and feelings flashed through his mind. That was defiantly from the Kyuubi and he was worried about something here.

Its not important. You’re inner coils have stabilized.

The fox finally said,

You need not worry.

“Stupid Fox. Of course I’m worried. I want to go home! We all do!”

I’m not sure that’s possible.

Frowning Naruto closed his eyes. He allowed himself to focus on his belly, on the seal and what it contained within. When he opened his eyes again, he was in front of the cage. In the distance he could hear water dripping, and the deep rumble that was the fox.

Large red eyes stared at him from behind the cage. Walking right up to the bars, Naruto wrapped his hands around them.

“What do you mean that may not be possible! We got here didn’t we? So there has to be a way home!”

The Fox paced back and forth within its cage.

I’m sorry brat. Whether you believe it or not. I do not want to be here either. If we are here…that means something went wrong.

“What went wrong!”

Naruto banged on the cage.

“I am so sick of your cloak and dagger bullshit Kyuubi! Why won’t you tell me anything! My life is your life!”

I KNOW THAT!

The Kyuubi roared so forcibly that Naruto was knocked onto his ass. The Kyuubi paused, seemly almost embarrassed by the outburst.

You are an annoying runt. Yes something has gone wrong…but perhaps…hmm yes maybe we can fix it.

“Fix it?”

Yes fix it. I can’t guarantee anything….you might not even want to go back once you realize the risks. But I suppose its worth a try.

“What risks?”

The fox shook its head.

That’s not important right now. You will learn soon enough. But first, you must find one of the Tej Ved.

“Tej Ved?”

Naruto said slowly trying to pronounce the very foreign word. He was also kind of annoyed that he was starting to sound like a parrot.

“Ok I guess that is a start. What is and where can I find a Tej Ved?”

The Tej Ved are….

The fox suddenly stopped.

Do you smell blood?

Naruto gasped as he realized…yes he did smell blood.

Closing his eyes it took only a moment to come back to the real world.

“We’ll finish this talk later.”

But of course.

Sniffing the air Naruto felt himself tense up. Yes it was blood, fresh blood at that. Not the two day old decaying stench that had saturated everything. But where was it coming from?

Forcing himself up Naruto winced at the pain in his side. It might be mostly healed but it still kind of hurt. Sniffing the air Naruto made his way to the window.

What he saw…nearly made his heart stop. He felt breath catch in his throat as he gripped the window sill. His knuckles turned white, and the wood groaned under his grip.

“H…Hinata?”

It was Hinata and even from his bell tower window he could see that she was hurt.

He didn’t know why, but seeing her…seeing her face like that covered in blood made his chest hurt. After all he’d seen countless companions hurt, some nearly killed, and it had only made him angry and ready to fight. But seeing that shy weird girl…it actually hurt.

She was making her way toward his tower. Her steps were slow and unsteady but she was defiantly heading his way.

Climbing out of the window Naruto forced chakra into his legs and jumped out of the 3 story window. The smell of blood was thicker outside the building, it was horrible, he felt his stomach churn at the smell.

“Hinata! Sweet Kami!”

Naruto cried out as soon as his feet touched the ground. He grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Na..ruto-kun.”
She whispered softly. The poor girl was exhausted. Her face was so pale, a sharp contrast to the blood that was apparently coming from her eyes. It kind of scared him, he’d only seen that particular skin color on a corpse.

“I found you.”

Her voice sounded so weak. Naruto swallowed unsure what to say.

“I…I’m sorry Hinata.”

He was apologizing and he wasn’t even sure why.

Wait a minute…she said she found me. I wonder…did she leave the others to come look for me. Kami…what the hell happened to her?

“Hin…Just…hang on ok. I’ll get help. Ok.”

Naruto had no idea what to do. He wasn’t a medic jin. Hell he barely remembered any of that first aid crap Iruka-sensei tried to teach him.

Oh my god what do I do what do I do! Her chakra is so low. I can barely feel it! Oh my god…what if she bleeds to death in my arms.

“KYUUBI! WHAT DO I DO!!??”

He was freaking out. Something that his teacher would no doubt kill him for. But damn it, this wasn’t a normal situation. At home he would grab Hinata and run to the Hokage tower. Ba-chan could heal her no problem. But Ba-chan wasn’t here. Nobody he knew was here!

Calm down brat.

“I can’t calm down! She’s dieing!!”

A suddenly splitting headache hit Naruto hard enough to make him reel. The Kyuubi might have been sealed, and couldn’t do any real harm, but apparent he could do the equivalent of a bitch slap to Naruto’s head.

“Owww”

Calm yourself. You may be new here. But that doesn’t mean you’re totally without knowledge. Just think and stop yelling.

“Think?”

Taking deep breaths Naruto tried to calm himself…the throbbing headache did kind of help. Suddenly it hit him…he might not know anything about this place…but he did know one thing.

“The Hospital? I could take her there!”

Very good freak.

“Hey who you calling a freak?”

The Kyuubi only chuckled before slipping back fully into the seal. Naruto felt a strange emptiness as the Kyuubi cut off all communication.

Ok…get Hinata to the Hospital. Ah man I hope those two aren’t there. I really don’t want another ‘bullet’ wound.

Swallowing in a dry throat Naruto turned around. If he remembered right they had headed North after he had thrown that guy into the wall. So that would mean the hospital was south. The building had been large compared to the other buildings as well. He should be able to find it easily enough.

“Hinata?”

Naruto suddenly realized that he was holding her up by her shoulders. She had passed out. If he hadn’t been holding her up she would have fallen to the ground. Gently as he could he reached down so he could put a hand under her legs.

He lifted her up. It was surprising how light she was. But then again last person he had carried had about a gillion pounds of added weighs to his legs.

“Hold on Hinata. I got you.”

Gritting his teeth Naruto started to run. It hurt like hell, on the half healed injury. But pain was the last thing on his mind. He had to get Hinata to the hospital as soon as possible.

Jumping up, Naruto landed on top of a vehicle, using that leverage he was able to jump on top of the buildings. It would quicker to travel by rooftop.

Hinata lay limply in his arms. He could still feel her chakra though, and he could see that she was breathing so he didn’t let himself panic to much. Well he didn’t allow himself to go into a panic. He was so worried he could hardly stand it.

But just like the Kyuubi said. He really couldn’t afford to lose his cool. Hinata was counting on him now.

“Wow..”

Naruto muttered as within a few minutes of hard running they came into the refugee camp.

“Kankuro wasn’t kidding when he said we weren’t far from the camp.”

Naruto came to a stop on the edge of a 2 story building. Where was the hospital? The camp was a lot more crowded than Naruto remembered. Then again he had been running and in a great deal of pain. The only thing he had paid attention to was Kankuro’s puppet.

And although Naruto still didn’t understand the seizures or the changes happening to his body, he suddenly found himself very grateful for his new improved vision. Seems not only could he see practically in the dark, but he could see over longer distances.

Where is that hospital? I thought it was a larger building…I’m not…oh wait! Is that it?

Pushing off the ledge he barely even touched the rooftops, it was like he was flying. Jiraiya would no doubt be proud of his speed if he had been here to see it.

Finally deciding he was close enough Naruto dropped down to the ground. He startled several people as he landed with a loud clunk beside them.

“Excuse me.”

He muttered as he rushed toward the hospital.

“Excuse me! Coming through! MOVE IT!”

Outside the hospital was crowded. No doubt because of all the people hoping to find loved ones. Naruto felt kind of sad as he thought of all the people that wouldn’t find what they were looking for here.

Shaking his head, Naruto pushed himself though the crowd. A few people seeing him and the bloodied face girl moved aside, although most didn’t seem to notice him, until after he pushed them out of the way.

Finally he made it to the door. For a moment he stood there completely out of his element he didn’t know what to do.

“Help?”

He said looking around at all the people that were all packed into a tiny waiting room. He was breathing hard, and only mildly aware of a new blood smell. His wound had reopened a little bit during the run and had started to bleed again. Not that he cared, Hinata needed the help way more than him.

“Someone please help?”
He said louder as he pushed his way into the waiting room. Glancing around he saw a woman that looked like she worked here behind a little glass window.

“Hey hey hey. Please help?”

Naruto whined as soon as he was within hearing range. The woman didn’t seem to worried…well at least she didn’t until she looked up.

“Dear Lord. What happened? Orderlies!”

The woman called out as she stood up and sidestepped out of view. A moment later she came through a door.

“I don’t know. I found her like this. She was fine last time I saw her?”

The woman was looking closely at Hinata, gently touching her face, then her wrist as she tried to find a pulse.

“Put her on the table.”

The woman ordered as soon as the orderlies showed up. Naruto nodded and as softly as he could placed Hinata on the table provided.

“Take her straight up to the ICU.”

The woman told the two men. They nodded and wheeled the girl away. Naruto swallowed as he found himself staring at the double doors they had taken her through.

“Young sir?”

Naruto blinked, then turned toward the woman.

“I’m going to need some Information.”

“Will it help her?”

Naruto asked. As a ninja he usually had a thing about just giving out information.

“It could.”

The woman smiled, obviously noticing how distressed Naruto was.

“Here, lets go in the back. We don’t have much here, but perhaps a cup of coffee, or some milk will make you feel better.”

The woman opened the door. Naruto hesitated a moment. Really he shouldn’t stay. He had escaped from this hospital barely a few hours ago. Not the quietest of escapes at that. However the woman was being really nice, something Naruto wasn’t used to. Everyone at Konoha hated his guts thanks to the fox. Besides she said the information could help Hinata.

Decision made Naruto nodded and followed the woman behind the door. She took him to a tiny break room. Offered him a chair at the table then went as far as to serve him a glass of milk.

Naruto smiled, it felt kind of nice…having someone actually being nice to him. In fact, no one gave him those hated stares here. No one spoke in whispers behind his back or anything.

“Thank you.”

He muttered as he took a sip of the milk. He was only slightly surprised that it tasted exactly like the milk from home. Everything else was so different in this world he have expected the milk to be blue or something.

“alright young man. What is the girls name, and how old is she?”
The woman asked softly after giving Naruto a moment to sip on his milk.

“Hyuuga Hinata. Um I think she’s the same age as me 14.”

“Does she have any allergies to medication?”

“Err?”

The woman noticing the total clueless look on Naruto’s face smiled.

“Never mind. I’ll just put unknown.”
“Alright what’s your name?”

“Uzumaki Naruto”

“Ok Naruto. Do you know where the girls parents are. What about you’re family?”

Naruto blinked. His family? That was something new, no one ever asked him about his family.

“I don’t have any. And…well…”

Naruto paused not sure how to explain their situation, hell he wasn’t even sure if he should explain it.

“We’re kind of lost.”

The woman nodded.
“A lot of families got separated. And you say you don’t have any family? What about foster parents or Guardians?”

Naruto shook his head.

“Not that I remember. No one wanted me.”

The woman blinked at him. She had this confused and slightly horrified look on her face.

“What do you mean no one wanted you?”

Naruto laughed.

“Just that. I was at a orphanage until I was six then they kicked me out. I would have been on the streets if it wasn’t for the Sandaime. He forced a apartment complex to let me live there.”

“So this…Sandaime is your guardian?”
“No, the old man’s dead.”

The woman was frowning now. Like she was mad at something, although Naruto felt she wasn’t mad at him.

“Well, I think we need to contact child services over this. I don’t know who your case worker was but they obviously didn’t do their jobs!”

“Case worker?”

“Yes your case worker. I don’t know a lot about it but I was under the impression all children sent to an orphanage or foster parents had one.”

Naruto shook his head. The woman stuttered as she tried to wrap her mind around this.

While Naruto was beginning to find this amusing, he was also feeling for the woman. She was a nice lady, that was honestly outraged that no one wanted him.

She doesn’t know about the fox. Wonder what she would think if she knew I had a demon renting out my belly button.

However Naruto decided to take pity on the woman and try to calm her down.

“Listen lady. Its ok. I’m not from around her. Things are done differently were I’m from.”

Naruto looked down at his milk. It was almost gone.
“When will they tell me about Hinata?”

“Oh…I’m not sure. Considering the girls parents aren’t here, they might not release any information.”

“But she’s…”

Naruto trailed off. He had been going to say teammate, but when he thought about it she wasn’t. She belonged to another cell, and this wasn’t a mission.

“OH….”

The woman said with a grin.

“Is she your girlfriend?”

Blink blink

“Its ok. I’ll go see if I can find anything out for you. Now then, come on you’ll have to wait in the waiting room. I’ve already broken like 10 rules bringing you back here.

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

Naruto muttered his voice cracking slightly. Where in the world did she come up with that. Naruto had barely ever spoken to the girl. About the only time he’d ever really been around her was the incident with the Bikochu bug.

The woman only smiled at him and his protests as he stood up. Naruto shook his head, it was then the nurse suddenly gasped.

“Good lord. You’re bleeding!”

“Huh? Oh this, don’t worry about it.”

The woman ignored him as she rushed forward. Naruto had been wearing just a t-shirt he’d found in the tower. The hoodie had been to hot. Now though Naruto kind of wished he had worn a darker color. The blood stain, which was slowly getting bigger would have been hidden.

“Off with the shirt Naruto!”

The woman demanded. Naruto sighed, he should get going. He really should. But…the lady had been so nice to him. It would be rude to take off now. With an annoyed grunt Naruto lifted the t-shirt over his head.

“Oh my god!”

The woman muttered as she lifted the bandages to look at the wound.

“You’ve been shot!”

Naruto frowned. Why couldn’t they pick one term and stick with it. First it was a bullet wound, but it was a gun that hurt him, because the bullet was harmless without the gun. Now apparently it had a new term, he’d been shot.

“I’m ok really. Doesn’t even hurt that bad.”

Naruto shifted nervously.

“Can we not make a big deal about this?”

“How can we not, you’ve been shot. Now come on, you’re going to the ICU as well!”

“But it doesn’t even hurt!”

“Its bleeding.”

“Not a lot!”

“The bullet might still be in there!”

“Er? No, pretty sure I’d know if a foreign piece of metal was lodged in my stomach.”

“Naruto this is serious. Come On!”

The lady grabbed Naruto’s arm, trying to drag him upstairs. Naruto resisted although he didn’t want to hurt her. They were still arguing when suddenly the door opened.

“Nurse White can you….”

Dr. Halsey trailed off as she looked up and blinked.

“YOU!”

“AHHHHH IT’S THE CREEPY DOCTOR!!”

Naruto shrieked his voice cracking a little he realized who this was. He bolted…or rather, tried to. The instant he yelled there were three identical soldiers to the ones that shot him suddenly in the room. Two blocked the way out, while one had put herself in front of the Creepy doctor.

Naruto reached for his pouch…

“Oh shit.”

It wasn’t on his leg. He had forgotten it in the rush to get Hinata here. Looking around wildly Naruto realized that there was actually very little to nothing in the room that would work as a weapon.

The now familiar click of weapons could be heard as all three leveled their bullet gun things at him.

Oh shit, what am I going to do? I can’t use any jutsu’s…I might accidentally hurt the nice lady. And what if they try to shoot me again, she might get caught in the crossfire. What do I do?

Finally realizing he was out of options. Naruto slowly raised his arms up. He didn’t want to leave the hospital, not without Hinata. He also didn’t want to endanger the woman that had been so nice to him. He had no weapons and nothing he could make into one. There was simply no way out of this.

“What’s going on here?”

The woman finally muttered kind of scared. She had never seen a Spartan in real life before, they were ever bit as intimidating as on TV.

“Are you alright Ms. White?”

Halsey said.

“Yes?”

“Good. I suggest you go back up front. This boy is under Arrest.”

“You won’t hurt him will you!”

The woman crossed her arms. Military or not, she wasn’t going to let them hurt this little boy.

“No. He’s wanted for questioning.”

“That’s it?”

The Doctor nodded.

“Dr. Halsey, this boy has a bullet wound to his side. It needs to be checked out.”

With that the woman smiled softly at Naruto. She was apologetic, but there was really nothing she could do here. The military pretty much ran the hospital. It was their sources and supplies that were being used, and it was their money being spent to help the people here.

“I’ll look at it.”

Dr. Halsey said, her eyes not leaving the boy.

I can’t believe it. He looks to healthy. He was shot, almost died not even 24 hours ago. And why did he come back? Surely he would know better.

“Young man.”

Dr. Halsey started…she then stopped as she noticed something on the table. Walking toward it, and the kid the Doctor picked up the piece of paper. She could feel her Spartans shift almost nervous at how close she was to a potentially dangerous threat. They knew better than to under estimate a person by their age. After all they had been on missions, killing people, kidnapping rebel base leaders and such by his age.

The doctors face showed confusion as she read over the sheet.

“Did you bring someone in?”

She finally asked.

“Yes.”

Naruto said after a long hesitation.

“And you better not hurt her!”

Dr. Halsey looked over the information. It wasn’t much, although at least now she knew the young mans name.

“Why do you assume we would?”

Naruto rolled his eyes.

“Well duh! It was these assholes that nearly killed me!”

Naruto gestured violently toward the three Spartans.

“I was just minding my own business when they attacked me…twice!”

“You were in a restricted area.”

“I didn’t know that!”

Naruto whined.

“Uzumaki Naruto that‘s your name right”

Halsey said raising her voice over the annoying whining the child was trying to employ. The name sounded foreign and she wasn’t sure if she was pronouncing it right.

Maybe Japanese? Hmm he doesn’t look Asian? Strange.

“Will, please escort this young man to my office. I’ll go have a look at…”

Dr. Halsey looked down at the piece of paper.

“Hyuuga Hinata.”

She said as she folded the paper, and then putting it in her pocket.

Naruto growled angrily as one of the Spartans forced his hands behind his back and put some sort of metal bindings on his arms.

“You had better not hurt her! Or you will regret it!”

The threat didn’t sit to well with the Spartans. The one that handcuffed him pushed him forward hard! He almost lost his balance. It wasn’t much but he could feel some Killing intent toward him due to the threat.

Hm pretty protective of the creepy doctor. I’ll have to remember that.

“I mean it!”

Naruto yelled out as the Spartan led him away.

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Uiyep slowly led his new group of Grunts through the empty streets of the human city. Behind them…making sure that this job was a nerve wracking hell was the Arbiter. Why he was with them Uiyep didn’t know. What could a troupe of grunts find that the more capable elites couldn’t.

So far they had found nothing. Earlier there had been reports of a sighting. A phantom braving possible attack from the humans had flown over the city. It had reported Covenant in the area as well and had alerted them. However…those troops had not reported in. It made Uiyep nervous. He kept seeing bloodied bodies, crushed beyond recognition, and walls knocked down. His unit had been destroyed so easily. What if these other humans were just as strong. He really didn’t want to find out. But then again…he had been chosen, personally picked by the prophets to come back to earth and search. It wasn’t often a grunt was noticed by the higher ups. Uiyep was honor bond to try and make a good impression. He only wished that Ootewa had been healthy enough to come.

It felt weird not being with the silent grunt. Ootewa had almost a second sense when it came to danger, he was also damn lucky. He felt exposed without him.

Uiyep paused, lifting his hand to signal a stop.

Something didn’t seem right. The air suddenly felt kind of heavy, a static tension to it that hadn’t been there a moment before. He knew this feeling. It was an after effect of the covenant weapons. Kind of like the gunpowder smell a gun gives off.

“Arbiter sir. How close are we to the human sighting.”

The Arbiter walked forward so he was standing beside the short grunt.

“Not far.”

Uiyep nearly jumped out of his respirator in fright as he heard the Arbiter activate his sword. Then without a word he went ahead of Uiyep. The grunt motioned that the others stay back. They would back up the Arbiter if needed.

Guess it isn‘t my imagination. The Arbiter feels it to. Weapons have been fired close by, and recently to.

The other grunts, all new to Uiyeps way of doing things shifted nervously. Uiyeps reputation preceded him. So he hadn’t had trouble finding volunteers. But he didn’t know these grunts. He just hoped none of them got too excited and shot him in the back.

“By the prophets.”

The Arbiter suddenly muttered as he turned the corner of one large building. His sword arm dangled down.

Uiyep blinked then hurried to catch up. He muttered a curse a little more spicy than the Arbiters.

The place was a wreck, like a major battle. The ground was broken in several places, and there were several scorch marks all over the place. In the distance the wrecked ruins of a phantom burned out of control.

Uiyep frowned, then ran forward. The Arbiter didn’t try to stop him as he followed slightly slower and with more caution.

There right in the middle of the street was a dead elite.

He’s not the pilot. The hatch of the Phantom is still locked. That poor son of a bitch probably burned to death in that inferno.

Kneeling down the Arbiter muttered a prayer. Uiyep kneeled as well and waited until the Arbiter was done before examining the body.

“What’s this?”

Reaching over and trying to ignore all the blood Uiyep grabbed onto the object that had been rammed through the elites chin (well closest thing to a chin that an elite has). With a few tugged the weapon finally came out. It was a strange looking metal weapon. Sort of like a knife, but no knife that Uiyep had ever seen. Glancing around Uiyep noticed something else as well. Bending over he picked up the used gun shell. So the humans did this. This was a normal gun shell so it might not be the ones they were searching for. Then again…the knife wasn’t normal. Hmmm

“There’s a lot of human blood here.”

The Arbiter mentioned causally as he too studied the gun shell in Uiyeps hand.

“Probably was wounded. Not enough to signify a kill.”

The elite titled his head slightly.

“This happened probably an hour ago.”

Uiyep nodded agreeing with the Arbiters time guess. The elites body wasn’t cold yet, although some of the blood was starting to dry.

“SIR!”

A young grunt suddenly screamed out. Uiyep dropped the shell bringing his gun around. The Arbiter didn’t bother, he had gone back to staring at the dead body of his brother.

“This doesn’t make sense.”

He muttered to himself before finally turning around and paying more attention to the freaking out grunt. The young grunt was gesturing wildly toward an alley the next building over. Walking over both Arbiter and the Grunt commander was surprised at what they saw.

“Hunters.”

Uiyep muttered as he walked carefully toward the pair. They looked horrible. Their armor was visibly dented in several places. Some of it was even missing, exposing more of the skin. The alley way was literally soaked in their orange blood. It was everywhere. Suddenly one of them moved.

“Their not dead!”

Uiyep squeaked in surprise. Although he made no move to help the pair. Hunters were extremely dangerous when injured.

Again the hunter moved. It tried to get up although ultimately it failed as it slumped back against its brother.

Finally the Arbiter took a step forward. Hunters dangerous as they were would usually calm down when an elite talked to them. Still even he was cautious as he approached the injured pair.

“Hunter. What has happened here?”

The hunters head rolled toward the Arbiter. A hunter didn’t have eyes per say, but it could see, and it was focusing on the elite.

“Hurt.”

Its voice, distorted and deep rumbled through the air. Slowly it turned its head toward its brother. Uiyep couldn’t tell if it was alive or not. It didn’t move.

“Brother hurt.”

The Arbiter paused.

“Uiyep, have one of your grunts call for a pick up.”

Uiyep turned toward one of his grunts.

“You heard the Arbiter! Move it!”

The grunt squeaked and hurried to do as it was ordered.

“There…help is on the way for your brother.”

The Arbiter began again.

“Now tell me, what happened here?”

Bright orange blood oozed out of the head piece the hunter wore. Still it nodded softly.

“Human.”

“So humans did this?”

That would explain the gun shells, but not the dead elite. He hadn’t been shot.

“No.”

The hunter moaned out.

“Humans no…human yes.”

The hunter raised one of its arms. The shield it normally worn had been ripped off. It touched its chest where one of the larger dents were.

“Human, hurt…human hit.”

The movement seemed to exhaust the hunter as its arm fell back to the ground.

“Humans no, Human yes?”

The Arbiter repeated back.

Humans no, human yes?

“Are you saying. That A human hit you. A human as in only one?”

The hunter nodded.

“Our lords above.”

Uiyep muttered as he gripped his weapon tighter.

“It has to be the humans we’re hunting. Not even the demon could do this? Could he?”

Uiyep looked up at the Arbiter.

“The demon is indeed strong. But no, I don’t believe even he could do this to a hunter pair.”

“I will radio in a report. Stay here and watch them.”

The Arbiter looked around carefully his sword held tensely at his side.

“This new…demon may still be close by.”

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