Author's Notes – I claim no rights or anything associated with the Naruto series and/or its characters.  Please leave me your comments and reviews telling me what you think. Thanks!

 "..." regular speech, '...' beast speech, *...* mental telepathy, CAPS - ATTACKS, (author notes)

Chapter Fourteen: life mates

It was early morning as Naruto scampered through the woods in full beast form. Naruto was hunting. He never killed what he hunted but he loved chasing them, feeling the adrenaline pumping through his veins. It was one of the few things that he and Kyuubi enjoyed together. Naruto chased a deer through the woods to a clearing. The deer seemed to know that the feral fox wouldn't hurt it as it was only looking for something to chase and hunt in order to keep his skills at its top performance. Naruto stopped suddenly as the scent of lavender drifted in the air.

*That's odd. Lavender isn't do to bloom yet.* Naruto thought to himself mentally. Curiosity got the best of him as he decided to investigate. He followed the smell as his ears twitched hearing a waterfall and singing. He got close enough but was still hidden to see a young girl around the same age as him bathing in the waterfall. His eyes went wide as he had never seen a girl as beautiful as her before. As Naruto moved he stepped on a dry twig alerting the girl to his presence. The girl moved taking several small shurikens out from her clothing throwing them at Naruto who laid hidden causing him to come out of hiding. Naruto's ears dropped back as his nine tails wrapped around his body as he dropped his gaze suddenly to the ground while biting his lower lip. *Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I am sorry.* he whined telepathically. Naruto didn't move as he remained in beast form. His ears twitched when he heard and smelled the girl approaching him. Naruto bit harder into his lip as he could feel soft hands caressing his fur and scratching his ears. Naruto slowly lifted up his head meeting the girls gaze. She had short cropped cut dark purple hair and soft lavender eyes (AN: yes, I know that Hinata has all white eyes but I decided to give her lavender eyes). A strange feeling shot through Naruto's body which caused him to bolt out of there. Naruto ran through the woods trying to get away from the girl.

'Naruto stop!' snarled Kyuubi. Naruto obeyed his beast half stopping and transforming back into his human form. Naruto panted as blood tears streaked down his face. The strange feeling felt like it was overpowering him. Memories of something similar flooded Naruto's mind causing him to whimper. His hands dug into a nearby tree leaving long claw marks in the bark.

MEMORY FLASHBACK...

It was during the time when Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara were still with the lab that had created them. During that the time one of the experiments that they were forced to go through was to have sex with human females in order to create half breed children. The experiment meet with a tragic end for the women as when they had sex with Naruto and/or Sasuke, they were burned alive and/or electrocuted. When they had sex with Gaara, their insides were shredded apart when they tried to give birth to any of Gaara's children. The scientists ended the experiment rather suddenly do to the same results would turn up every time that they forced the three monster teens to mate.

END FLASHBACK...

'Naruto it is all right. This time it felt different. This time I didn't have to hold back the fire that runs through our body.' Kyuubi stated. This shocked Naruto. He had always known that he couldn't touch normal humans unless he held back the fire that literally ran through his body. The only ones whom he never had to hold back with was his brothers Sasuke and Gaara as it seemed that they had a natural immunity to Naruto's fire. Naruto had never felt such strong emotions like this before. Naruto's body stiffened as he heard someone behind him. The smell of lavender drifted up his nose. The girl had followed him. Naruto never turned around as he found himself unable to move.

"I am sorry Naruto. I didn't mean to scare you. It was just the first time that I have seen you take that form since the incident at the village." the girl stated in a soft shy voice.

"You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name but I don't know yours." Naruto stated.

"Hinata Hyuga." she replied softly. Naruto slowly turned to face her swallowing harshly. He had seen many other girls before but none of them seemed to capture Naruto's eye like Hinata did.

"I am sorry if I had frightened you earlier Hinata. It was just I smelled lavender close by as I was hunting and I had to investigate since I know that lavender doesn't bloom this early." The minute that Naruto said he was hunting a scowl crossed Hinata's face. "No you got it all wrong. I don't kill anything that I hunt. It is just for the thrill of the chase. The animals that I hunt know that I wouldn't harm them as they allow me to chase them while I am in beast form." Naruto blurted out quickly blushing as if embarrassed. Hinata began to laugh out loud which caused Naruto to blush brighter than before.

"I don't mean to judge you Naruto. It is just hard for me to picture someone like you picking on defenseless animals and people. I mean that you don't seem like the type of person whom would do something like that." Hinata stated as she she began to blush.

'Naurto, I think that she likes you.' whispered Kyuubi mentally within Naruto's mind. Naruto finally seemed to relax a little bit as something about Hinata felt like he had known her even though this was their first meeting. Even being this close to a human without having to control the fire that raged within their body felt strange to them.

*Could it be possible that Hinata possess a power like my own?* Naruto asked himself mentally. Naruto wanted to ask Hinata about it but he couldn't.

"Do you always come to these woods to hunt Naruto?" asked Hinata interrupting Naruto's thought. Naruto just nodded his head yes. "You don't speak much do you?" Hinata asked.

"I just get nervous around people that I don't know. It takes me a while to get used to someone." Naruto replied as he did feel very uneasy around Hinata.

"I know what you mean. It took me a lot of courage just to talk to you. Ever since I had first saw you come into the village, I kind of liked you but never could bring myself to talk to you until now." Hinata stated blushing. Naruto wasn't used to a girl telling him that they like him. Naruto's heart pounded faster as it felt like his own fire threatened to consume him. Naruto backed up against the tree as his hands clawed into the bark. A wave of emotions confused him as he could hear his fox half cursing in the back of his mind. Blood tears streaked down Naruto's face cause Hinata to ask what was wrong.

"I am sorry Hinata." he whimpered shape shifting into beast form running away from the girl whom ultimately confused him.

'I would have never thought that it was possible, but it seems like we have human mates.' laughed Kyuubi in the back of Naruto's mind as all Naruto wanted to do was to hide under his bed at home and never come out. He wasn't used to these kind of emotions as these new emotions scared him. Naruto scampered back into the house never shape shifting out of his beast form as he ran to his room hiding himself under the blankets.

Sasuke and Gaara saw a streak of red-orange dash through the house up to Naruto's room. They could sense their brother's fear. Sasuke and Gaara entered Naruto's room to hear soft whimpering as a pile blankets shook on Naruto's bed.

"Naruto what happened?" Gaara asked in concern. Neither one of them have ever seen Naruto like this, not even during lunar cycles. They slowly pulled back the blankets to find Naruto the size of a fox as his ears were pinned back as his nine tails were wrapped around his body. Naruto only whimpered shaking with fear as blood tears streaked down his muzzle.

'Naruto had met the one whom is destined to be his life mate. A human female named Hinata Hyuga.' answered Kyuubi. The look of shock stretched across Sasuke's and Gaara's face as they understood why Naruto was afraid. The brothers gently stroked Naruto trying to ease their brother's fear. 'This girl allowed him to feel things that Naruto hasn't felt before which overloaded him and scared him. The memory of that breeding incident is still on his mind as he is afraid of the same thing happening again.' Kyuubi added.

'Kyuubi are you certain that she was human?' asked Taka.

'Yes I am certain. The odd thing was that I didn't have to hold my fire back like we usually do.' replied Kyuubi as this shocked them even more.

'But that would mean that there are other humans out there whom are meant to become our true life mates.' stated Shukaku. The beasts knew that given this information that they would have to help their human halves to find these mates.