The first thing Naruto thought when consciousness returned to him, was that his neck really hurt. A lot.

Then the image of that great cat with extra ears popped into his head and he leapt to his feet only to double over in pain and collapse again.

"Geeze," a loud, annoying, female voice said on his right. "You're such an idiot – don't you know not to move after you've been resurrected?"

"R… Resurrected?" Naruto groaned out, his throat sore beyond belief and stomach throbbing with pain. He attempted to lift his head to look at his savior, but hi vision swam and she pushed him back down into a laying position.

"Yeah. You'd better be thankful I decided to come this way instead of taking a shortcut over the mountains. Otherwise you'd just be a gift to the birds." She pushed him down again as he tried to sit up. "And if you keep trying to sit up, you might still die again. I only had an Awakening Potion, you know. You're still weak."

"Don't call me weak," he mumbled, deciding to obey lest she start poking at his wounds. "Who are you, anyway?" he asked, drifting off into a healing sleep.

"Yamanaka Ino."

---

He awoke once more to a gentle touch on his neck, fingers creating a soft tickling sensation on hardened, new scar tissue. His eyebrows knitted together and he groaned, opening bleary eyes.

The young woman appeared to be around his own age, a too big, wine red robe with a deep v-cut neck exposing a fair amount of cleavage and a skirt that trailed down past her feet, the tattered and dirtied hemline dragging on the ground. Her hair, long and blonde, was pulled up into a high ponytail, an equally long lock of blonde bangs swaying in her face, obscuring soft pastel blue eyes.

For a moment, she didn't notice his ocean orbs trailing up and down her body, resting on her partially exposed chest, too engrossed in caressing the angry red scar. But when she did notice where his attention was focused, she growled deep in her throat and smack the man across the face, one hand flying up to cover her chest.

"Pervert!" she shrieked, glaring. "And after wasting my only potion on you!"

"It's not my fault you're wearing that!" Naruto cried, curling up to protect his face and re-igniting the pain in his abdomen and throat. He began to hack up what felt like death, a warm sensation numbing the pain and the woman peered at him worriedly.

"I'm sorry – I didn't mean to re-open anything. Did I?"

"I don't think so." He coughed as she grunted and smacked him again, this time much less painfully. Giving her an odd look, he asked, "So, who are you again? I didn't catch your name before."

"I'm Ino. I was resting in Toka (River crossing) City, in the Northern Marches, when I decided to come this way to see if there was any place for employment. I saw that Plains Aisha attack you and blasted it away."

"'Blasted it'?" Naruto parroted, blinking and Ino snorted.

"If you'd been paying more attention to my dress instead of my chest, you'd realize that I'm a wizard-in-training. I really only know a few spells, but the monsters here are so much weaker than those where I'm from."

"Oh… Hey! Are you calling me weak!" Naruto glared.

"Well, now, I'm going to call you a moron." Naruto glowered and was about to shout when Ino reached over and poked his throat, causing him to wince in pain instead.

"Will you stop doing that!"

"You know my story," Ino said, ignoring the other blonde, "what about you? How did you wind up dead at the paws of a Plains Aisha?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, but he began to talk. He explained about the pressures his villagers put on him because his father had helped found the village. He explained how he had died long ago, leaving him and his mother alone. He tried to explain the need to wander – to be free from the pressure placed on his shoulders to do something great. He could see in her eyes that, while she couldn't empathize, she could understand.

He told her of how he had set out, no goal in sight except to get away from the scrutinizing looks of the others. He might have mentioned how he was feeling cocky after the encounter with what Ino called a Plains Lupe, and how he hadn't actually been cautious while battling that cat creature.

"Typical boy," Ino laughed, ignoring Naruto's grinding teeth. "Kill one thing, and think you're god. I guess this just goes to show you that you are fallible."

Naruto stuck out his tongue and turned his back to her. At some point during his story telling, they pair had risen and began walking to Naruto's original destination – a cave hidden somewhere in the Golden Forest that had, at one point, served as a gold mine for those eccentric enough to follow rumors. Ino wasn't sure why they were going there until Naruto had informed here that there had been rumors that the ghosts of those same dead miners had taken up residence there.

"And why would you want to hang out with a bunch of ghosts?" Ino asked incredulously.

"They've been terrorizing anyone that's been coming by here. If I can help out the village, then why shouldn't I?"

"You make a good point, Naruto-kun," Ino agreed, folding her arms across her chest and nodding. She didn't bother telling him about the creepy presence she had felt when she had first crossed by. No need to make him feel like he was right, after all.

A sudden snapping of twigs caught her attention and she grabbed the back of Naruto's tunic, halting him in mid-step and nearly making him fall over.

"What was that for?" he cried, stumbling to regain his balance.

"Shut up, idiot. Something's following us and I don't have another Awakening Potion. So be on your guard this time."

Naruto's eyes hardened and he reached for his sword, sheathed at his side – nice and loose, he had made sure several times. There was a growl from his left and he lunged, blade ready, and dug deep into a long, fizzy, black leg. The creature shrieked loudly, four crimson eyes glaring at him as it jerked away, green blood pouring profusely from its detached leg. Ivory fangs, dripping with a steaming liquid, lashed out at him, and he nearly didn't have time to duck when a loud shout came from behind him.

"Negate!"

A rush of swirling, blue energy flew at the spider-creature, sending it tumbling back and Naruto whirled about.

"You-!"

"Keep your eyes focused, idiot! I can't do this rapid-fire, you know!" Ino shrieked, hands flying together and forming intricate patterns, a second blue glow enveloping her fingers.

Naruto didn't have time to nod as the spider gathered its remaining legs beneath itself, poison dripping from its fangs even heavier, leaving steaming, gaping holes in the mossy ground. It lunged, but the blonde man was ready, ducking and driving his sword into its stomach as Ino shouted, "Disrupt!"

The thing shrieked terribly as it burst into violet flames, charred remains falling to Naruto's feet in a small pile. He watched in rapt fascination as the ashes glowed, reforming themselves into a small vial full of a sickly green liquid that he recognized as a Healing Vial.

"Weird," Ino panted, slowly walking up to Naruto, drained of energy from her two rapid – albeit weak – attacks. "I've never seen anything do that before."

"I'm not sure I trust it," Naruto grumbled, poking it lightly with the tip of his sword. "It did come from that… that thing after all."

"That thing as you so put it," Ino grumbled, smacking his hand away and picking up the Vial, "was a Cave Spyder. They're supposed to be really common in forests and caves."

"If they're common is forests, how come they're called Cave Spyders?" Naruto asked, warily watching Ino twitch the vial in her hand before unplugging the deep red cork and draining the contents, restoring her lost energy.

"Because they said so," she responded, more interested in feeling whether or not there would be any ill effects on her body, and surprisingly finding none.

"Who are "they"?"

""They" are "they". No one knows who "they" are, but everyone knows "they"."

"… Are you sure that what you drank was safe?"

"Oh, shut up. Do you want to go into this cave or not?"

"Of course!" Naruto sheathed his blade and tugged at Ino's hand, urging her to go faster. "I want to get to the Dark Cave before nightfall!"

---

Take that, lazyness! I did this! And I don't forget, deserves a cookie for guessing the (mostly) correct game! -hands you a cookie of your choice- It's actually NeoQuest II, but it's close enough. And if anyone else has played through that entire game -puts finger to lips- shhhh. We don't want people to be spoiled, now do we?

Nine: Since she's obviously enjoying herself, I'll just have to say the disclaimer myself. Angel does not own Naruto, nor NeoQuest I or II. She's only obsessed with the former and has an account for the latter.

Angel: Excellent. So, till next time!