Little Naruto sat in his dark fox hole, watching out as the sun began to rise through the trees and over the bank. It blessed the land with its bright, pastel bleeding colors. The way they appeared to swirl together had Naruto enraptured each time. Every morning he came to the edge of his hole and would peak out and watch the sun rise, he would do the same, no matter where he was, for the sunset. Naruto loved colors and how beautiful they were, even during bad weather, he would watch. He pawed at his eyes to rub the sleep out of them; he didn't want to miss a moment of the sunrise.

He watched as the sun as it became completely visible above the trees, the bright colors turning more solemn. Naruto yawned cutely and sniffed the air for any signs of danger as he walked to the entrance of his hole. He stood still as he heard birds overhead beginning their search for food as well. Then, satisfied he would be safe; he darted out of his hole on his two back feet and ran to hide in the opposite brush. Every morning it was the same ritual, wake up, watch the sun, sniff, dart, eat, and sleep. He did this every day, every day since his father and mother died.

He tried not to rustle the brush as he looked and sniffed around for something to kill. He hadn't eaten since the day before and was more hungry than usual. He began to take a step forward when he heard twigs snap and the heavy, unnatural footsteps begin to come close to where he hid. Naruto didn't move as he listen, ears as high as they would go, fur ridged down his back. His eyes darted back and forth, looking for the maker of the noise. He looked left and right, then as he turned back left…he saw it, something black and round sticking out from behind a tree. It didn't move as it sat on the ground. Naruto had never seen such a thing and was extremely curious to touch it, but dared not to, fear gripping him. He looked up slowly and saw another black thing sticking out higher above him. He sniffed but couldn't smell anything but leaves. Then, it moved down. Naruto crouched low to the ground as the thing came around the tree beside the brush.

A man! It was a man! Naruto eyes widened, he had only ever seen one man before…when his parents died. The man shot them, then took their bodies away, and Naruto had never seen them again.

This man peaked around the corner and Naruto saw a single black-as-night eye. He had only seen that color in the sky after the hard rains that came in the summer. The ones that filled his fox hole and made sleep impossible. It pierced through the trees, slowly combing the area it watched. Naruto saw hair fall over the ma's' face, it too was a black as his eye, maybe just a little darker. This scared Naruto, black was not a good color, ever. Black was the color blood turned when it got old and started smelling bad. Then, a hand slipped out from behind the tree. In the white hand held a long…stick. That was the only word Naruto could use to describe it. It was shiny and smooth, not like any stick he had ever seen in the forest. Naruto was beginning to grow uncomfortable as the man moved the stick-thing to his eye and pointed it at something. What was the stick going to do? He wondered.

The man took a deep breath and his finger moved over something. A loud blast rocked Naruto from his position and he feel over, rustling the brush. Naruto thought he had gone deaf from the blast and squealed as the man looked down and saw him through the brush. Their eyes locked for a moment, both wide and shocked. Then, he cried out and began to run, the man took only a moment of hesitation and gave chase, his long stride easily catching up with Naruto.

"Wait!" the man cried, Naruto cried out again as the man tackled him to the ground. Both rolled in the leaves as Naruto squirmed to get away and the man determined to hold him still. Naruto resorted to biting and clawing at the man to get him off. He clawed at the hands wrestling with him and at the body over-top of him. He tried to reach for the mans' face, but he kept it out of reach, he was a good…whatever, Naruto thought.

"HOLD STILL!" the man called and Naruto stopped moving as his hands were firmly pinned and the man sat on top of him. This man spoke his language, how, how could that be? Naruto became very afraid, this man… he didn't finish his thought as the man hovered over top of him. The man pressed Naruto arms into the dirt too hard and they began to hurt. Narutos' tail thrashed under him and his feet continued to squirm, even though he knew he couldn't break free of the man's strong hold.

The man and Naruto both were breathing heavy when they finally stopped. The man's chest rose and fell with each breath as he continued to tower over Naruto. Both watched each other, one waiting for the other to make a move, a noise even, and Naruto's fear finally bubbled over:

"Let me go, please, I'm…I'm sorry!" Naruto begged.

"W-what?" the man asked.

"I'm sorry…don't kill me, please don't kill me…" Naruto said closing his eyes, then, began to cry. Large tears rolled down his face as he feared he would meet the same fate as his parents.

"Fox, don't cry. Why do you cry?" he man asked harshly.

"I don't want to die…" Naruto cried.

"I'm not…" the man stuttered out, then composed himself, "I'm not going to kill you." He said firmly. Naruto opened his blue eyes and looked up at the man's dark ones.

"You…you're not?" he said with a sniff.

"No, stupid," said the man letting go of Naruto's hands and sitting back on his haunches. Naruto slid up into a sitting position and wiped his eyes.

"Why?" he asked.

"I…I…don't know…I've never seen one of you before…" the man said watching Naruto.

"That's cause we don't WANT you to see us." Naruto said looking at the ground. The man said nothing at that and Naruto didn't want to look at him. They sat in complete silence as this fact sunk in, not even the birds made a sound. Naruto thought he wouldn't be able to bear the silence any longer, when the man beat him to it.

"Well then…" he said finally and standing. He brushed himself off and looked around. He saw what he was looking for and picked it up, the stick, "See you." He said gruffly, almost hatefully, and walked off, leaving a shocked Naruto alone in the bright forest.