Cat Scratch Fever

On a nice, winter day with the sun somewhat beaming past the clouds to still keep it's dark day, people were walking about on their daily lives with not much of a care on anything else but their daily tasks. With all of the commotion going on, no one would've even bother to look around in some of the most secluded areas of Gotham. From some of the more 'seedier' districts to back alley ordeals, no one would be keeping a close eye to many of their activities, except for few depending on the time of day.

*Meowr* A cat cried out as it walked through the alleyways looking around for it's goal. It's black fur and emerald green eyes made it blend very well into the dark area with just it's bright eyes and collar shining a bit to give off the hint that it was there.

One might wonder why is this cat important….Well this little one is named Isis and she is looking for her master. Her master being one Selina Kyle otherwise known as Catwoman.

She had been waiting for weeks for her master's return and she had been sorrowful during all this time. Sure there was her master's friend, long black haired woman that helped take care of her but she didn't have that kind of feeling given off like her master did. That woman was more of an aunt in her perspective while her master….was more of a mother in all sense of the word. Isis loved her ever since she was just a small kitten and took care of her every day to the point of the black feline imprinting on her as her mother and no one will replace her master.

On one night weeks ago when she and her master were going out for their 'nightly walks', she had caught sight of an interesting individual inside of the clocktower. Much like her master, Isis had watched the person with interest and amazement with her thinking that the person could've been better doing such tricks than her master. Then the bell of the tower rang causing her master to slip and latch onto something quickly on instinct. As for the feline, it fell off it's grasp while falling downward to its imminent demise were it not for the help of the masked individual.

Isis didn't know what had occurred as it was truly scared on what happened. She was shaking like a leaf and didn't know what to do. But the man's presence….it was….comforting and warm. He comforted her, cared for her, and fed her that made her slowly forget the frightening experience of almost losing all her lives at once. During the whole thing, she slipped something underneath her collar that seemed to itch a little but when her master found her and comforted her, she found what was in the collar that made her truly happy.

It wasn't until sometime later when she met the masked individual again when she was greeted by his warm comfort as he was petting her. It made her feel as she was being petted by her master, but that is impossible since she only has one master...one mother. It was quite confusing on how to figure that one out.

On the night when she last saw her master, her aunt took her to someone's residence and felt something in there that reminded her of the one person that had the warm comfort. That confusion was answered when the masked individual came in without the mask and he had the same radiated warmth as ever that made her enjoy it. Things didn't go so well as he felt sad...lonely that Isis had to do what she could to make the warm man happy so she can feel the comfort on those few days.

But as time went on, Isis was starting to wonder where her mother went to and when she will be coming back. It started to frighten her that she wanted to go out and look for her. At first Isis decided to break out of the warm man's residence and get back into her home and wait for her mother's return. But days rolled by in the same fashion and her master hasn't returned to bask her in her motherly love. Not even the warm man's comfort could help her out this time as she was missing her master….her mother…..she needed to find her.

So here she is for some time now, searching every nook and cranny she can access to so Isis can find her mother.

She heard a vehicle come into the alleyway as she moved out of the way so she wouldn't get squashed and whatnot. Then two people stepped out of it, a man and a woman, that radiated coldness and made her want to get as far away from them as possible. Of course they started to walk towards her and she was trapped on the dead end of the alleyway with no way out.

"Dirty, stinking furball. Keep wondering why we have to keep rounding up these vermine." The woman said with a net in hand.

"Cause the boss said so and we are paid to do so." The large man replied.

"Shut it Paunch and nab that cat." The woman said getting 'Paunch' to throw the net at Isis.

"Meowr!" Isis cried out as she was in the net, trying to get free but it was no use. The net was raised with the green eyed, black cat trapped inside.

"Alright Paunch, get that inside of it's cage and let's move on."

"Right Jessy." He said as he walked to the vehicle and threw the cat inside of its containment.

Isis soon got free from the net but was stopped when the cage closed shut making her cry out for help.

She cried out for her master….her mother….the warm man….anyone to save her and bring her back home.

-Gotham Cafe-

"Sorry I'm late, the traffic was terrible getting over here."

"It's quite alright Harley and besides I just got here." Naruto said as he saw Harley sit down at the cafe table. The Uzumaki was wearing a thick button up shirt with loose jeans and snow boots with his jacket hanging off from the chair.

"Good to know." The asylum intern said with a smile as she adjusted to her seat after taking off her coat. She wore a few layers to keep her upper body warm while wearing a pair of tight jeans and non-slip shoes. Harley had to take off her glasses and clean them off due to them fogging up when transitioning between the cold air to the warm.

"So did you order anything before I got here?"

"Just some water with lemons and limes. Didn't want to order anything to eat just yet." Naruto said to her getting the blonde woman to nod.

It's been a few weeks since the two first met at the asylum when Naruto had dropped off Pam. Things started out well on their first interactions with one another since they needed to work with each other in the coming times to get Pam back together. So during the various times when Naruto stopped on by to visit Pam, he would chat with Harley as much as possible. Those conversations were mostly focused on how much he knows about the botanist so Harley could try to delve into the shared personalities of the red head's mind and work from there.

In their first few sessions, things were going well on introductory phases and learning basic things about one another. Though when Harley brought up most of the information from what she learned from Naruto, it wasn't all that great…..

-Flashback-

"Where did you learn about that?!" Ivy yelled out at the intern.

'Crap. Should've timed that bit better.' Harley thought to herself as she shortly berated herself on what she did.

Things were going pretty well for starters on how the session was going but with the recent outrage made Harley forget what led up to the blowout.

"I'll ask again. Where did you learn on how my mother died?!" Ivy cried out demanding the answer.

"F-From Mr. Uzumaki Ms. Isley." Harley said with a studder as she cowered a bit behind her chair in a comedic fashion.

"H-How could he...How dare he tell someone about that sensitive part of my past?!" Ivy yelled as she started pacing around the room while pulling on her hair.

"It wasn't his fault Ivy." Pamela said to her darker half indicating with the shift on vocal tones and body language. "He possibly didn't know that it was alright for him to tell someone about that. Surely you could forgive him on that."

It was an interesting case with Pamela Lillian Isley from what Harley noted. With most split personality cases, the two consciousness' would speak to each other inside of their mind. But Pamela was an interesting one that both consciousness' actually switch back and forth at will. Practically instantaneously with no big breaks in between like most split persona cases. From what she learned from Naruto that when the two actually sync up, both voices are speaking at the same time.

*Humph* "Fine… I'll forgive our consort on his slight mistake. But he better make up for it when he shows back up again." Ivy said with her arms crossed.

That was another thing that Harley found interesting when working with the 'two' was Ivy calling Naruto either her 'consort' or 'king' at times. But the intern thought it was just because Ivy thought she was the 'Queen or Goddess of Nature' itself so she just pushed that bit off to the side.

"Please forgive my 'sister' on her outburst Dr. Quinzel," Pamela said apologetically to her, "but I would like to know why you thought it was good to bring that information up in this session?"

"I agree with my 'sister' on that and I ask the same thing obviously." Ivy stated as she harshly looked at Harley.

Harley stood back up and went around the chair while facing the 'two' with a downtrodden look.

*Sigh* "L-Look...I'm sorry on what I did was uncalled for and I shouldn't have brought up such sensitive information like that. I'm new at this and I want to try my best to get a good handle in the profession. I didn't think things through not knowing you would blow out like that. It's just that I promised Mr… Naruto that I would do everything I can to help you 'two' out so you can be with him happily."

Both Pams stared at the intern as they could tell she really meant on what she said. Naruto really wanted the two of them to try and work out their problems and get things solved and Harley was wanting to help take care of it. It made Ivy feel like an ass while Pamela felt sorry for the intern.

*Sigh* "Look Dr. Quinzel, 'we' can understand what you're trying to do but please….try tread carefully on what you say from what you learned from Naruto." Pamela said to the blonde before Ivy took over.

"Much of the information we trusted with 'our' king is very important to 'us' and would've been better to hear from the source than from the messenger."

"I understand that and once again I'm sorry." Harley replied back to the meta.

"Then apology accepted." Pam said in sych.

"But shouldn't there be something I should do to make up for what I've done?" The intern asked.

This got 'them' to pause and adopt a thinking pose as 'they' discussed things in 'their' head on what the blonde should do in return.

"There is one thing that came to mind." Pamela said to the intern.

"Which is what exactly?" Harley asked in hopes it wasn't too bad or too demeaning.

Pam went up to Harley and sat her down onto the patient's couch as the meta sat on the doctor's chair. 'They' soon picked up the blonde's notepad and pen and said one simple yet complicated answer.

"'We' would like you to tell us a story."

-Flashback End-

…..But the end result was pretty interesting that the botanist and psychologist started to become friends….with one hell of a rough start.

To make up to the Pams on what she did, Harley told 'them' a story about her past that was equally emotional to the death of Isley's/Ivy's mother. Isley/Ivy did promise though that 'they' won't tell Naruto what 'they' learned on that story since it was Harley's to do so when she is comfortable in talking about it.

Naruto was told of what happened in that session and he apologized to both Pam's on his mistake in hopes that Harley could get through to them easily. 'They' forgave him but in return for what he had done, 'they' requested for Naruto to bring more flowers and all of the plants from 'their' apartment to make it more homey. Not only that but needed one hell of a make out session to satisfy sustate their urges for the time being.

Suffice to say Harley ended up being the sole audience member to see how frisky both Pam's got to be. Poor intern had to run out of the room with an embarrassed blush that got the meta to laugh inside of 'their' head.

…..Anyways….. After that whole debacle, Pam had urged the two to at least spend time together out of the office so they could at least relax and get their relationship better than before with the whole 'Doctor/Patient' thing. They complied and had hung out a few times when they were available as per Pam's request. Naruto only learned a small amount about her during each of their times together from Harley being a fan of some of the writers under Naruto's employ, having a gymnastics scholarship to Gotham State University as a teenager and that she was a shy child when growing up.

Currently, Naruto was hoping he could learn more about the blonde intern since he had today off along with the next few days. As for Harley, today was the only day she had off for the week until who knows when. So Naruto wanted to use this time to the fullest.

"So what would like to get Harley?" Naruto asked as she browsed through the menu.

"A turkey club wrap with fries and a vanilla shake." She answered. "You?"

"A philly cheese steak sandwich with onion rings."

A waiter came on by once seeing the other person of the party finally showed up and took their orders before doing his other tasks. While waiting for their meals to arrive, they had small talk on things as of late.

"...Of course there is Selina's trial tomorrow that I plan to go to."

"Yes I've heard about her 'exploits' and it's quite interesting on how a thief could end up saving a city with some help." Harley said as she took a sip of her drink.

"Well life sometimes enjoy making some interesting scenarios that will surprise others." Naruto replied back getting her to smile a little in agreement.

"Point."

Once emptying his glass, Naruto had something to say. "So I've been wondering Harley….You know quite a lot about Pam from what I've told you and you know me more than I know of you…."

"And you are wondering what you can learn what you don't know about little old me then." The intern said to finish up the publisher's statement.

"If you don't mind sharing." He offered the suggestion to her.

She was about to answer when the waiter came back with their completed meals along with refilling their glasses.

"Well this looks delicious." Harley said as she munched on a few fries dipped in the milkshake before seeing Naruto giving her a look.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oh yeah….momentarily forgot. Stomach was stronger than the mind for a moment." Harley said with a giggle that made her sound cute.

"It's fine Harley and I have the same problem when it came to my childhood comfort food." He confessed.

"Oh….and what is that exactly?"

"Ramen."

"Ramen?" She asked since that was not a food item she would expect a kid to have at that age to be his favorite.

Naruto munched a bit into his food before replying to her. "Back in my hometown, I was an orphan living in a rundown apartment with a allowance I got from the old man that checked up on me from time to time."

"Sorry to hear about that."

"Don't be." The silver haired male said as he waved her off. "With me being an outcast due to my looks, I wasn't allowed to eat at certain places and shop at certain stores. So I ended up finding this one ramen stand one day and I became friends with the owner and his daughter."

Harley could see the nostalgia run past his eyes and could tell that this part of his past truly meant something to him.

"They were so kind to me and gave me the first bowl of ramen to me free. I never had the stuff before so I was hesitant to try it but my stomach was demanding me to consume. After my first bite….. Man it felt like something was missing all my life and I practically devoured that dish without taking a breathe." Naruto stated as he was practically drooling at the memory getting the blonde woman to laugh this time on the display.

Naruto soon realized his current action and wiped off the drool with a napkin before continuing. "Ever since I was practically hooked on the stuff and spent much of my food money there."

"I sense a but coming." She said getting him to nod.

"But it's been ten years since I had their food and whatever ramen I eat every now and then doesn't hold a candle to their recipe. Got to the point that I eat ramen every now and then."

"Well it's good to learn about that from you Naruto."

"Good to know." He said as he munched into his food for a bit before replying back to her again. "Also I'm still waiting for getting some info out of you Doc."

"Drat." She said in a childish tone in hopes he would've forgotten it. *Sigh* "Might as well tell ya then."

Once taking a sip from her glass, she started to talk. "I believe I haven't told you why I became a psychologist in the first place."

"I think you haven't and it would be nice to know your motivation."

"It starts out with my family as like most people have in their career choices if they wanted to follow into family legacies or suggestions. For me it was something different. You see I didn't have much of a good childhood that things were not that great when growing up. Had a harsh, yet forgiving mother that tried to make things right for the family despite some naggings every so often. A younger brother that is a deadbeat, and fyi he currently is still one while living with dear old mom. As for my dad….lets just say that I have bad history with him and his tendencies of being a con-man."

"Sorry to hear that about your family Harley. I hope things got better when you moved out." The hazel eyed male said to her.

"Oh it did. Reason why I worked my ass off to get that gymnastics scholarship back in highschool and skipped a grade or two so I can get out sooner."

"Impressive." He kept munching on his meal as he listened to her tale.

"For years while living under the same roof, I wondered what made my family tick and wanted to understand all of their reasonings to the best of my knowledge. It takes a while to fully understand a person until something pops up causing you to rethink about the person more and more. Its pretty much what drives me now and to really push me to my limits and beyond that was for me working at Arkham to understand the real crazies there."

"Well it'll be one hell of a challenge for you to accomplish since it won't be an easy task to handle."

"I know but I enjoy challenges and it makes it more rewarding in the end."

After that, the two continued with their meals and had small talks before they decided to go around Gotham and see what else they can do to spend the rest of the day. They ended up seeing a movie to get some laughs out of it while Harley kept psycho analyzing the characters after the film was over. Eventually it was time for them to head back home since they had a big day in their own respective ways.

"You know you didn't have to walk me back to my car Naruto. I can defend myself quite well just so you know."

"I know Harley but then I wouldn't be such an overprotective friend now could I." He said getting her to stop in her tracks and look at him in surprise.

"Y-You consider me… your friend?" She said with widened eyes.

"Well yeah… why wouldn't I be your friend Harley?"

"W-Well… I don't know." The intern said as she rubbed her arm. "It's just that I never really had that many friends…. period. Pam and now you consider me your friend and it feels…. nice."

Naruto smiled as he held her close from the side getting her to blush without him knowing from the contact. Even helped when she tried to cover her face more with her scarf.

"Then I'm glad to be one of your first friends Harley and I hope I don't ruin it later on."

She smiled at this and hugged him back before they got to Harley's car. After saying one last goodbye, they went on their separate ways with the day being a pleasant part of their lives.

-Next Day, Gotham City Court House-

*Bam* The Judge's mallet sounded out in the courtroom as the verdict was being made. Selina was currently in the best civilian wear she had, not too gaudy or showy, but just something appropriate for the proceeding. Naruto and Shizune were sitting behind her for support for whatever verdict is placed upon her. Other people in the courtroom were consisted of animal rights activists and environmentalists.

"Selina Kyle….You have plead guilty to the charges set against you as Catwoman." The Judge said to the raven haired woman. "And you understand that you can serve up to twenty five years in prison?"

"Yes your honor." The environmentalist said.

"Regardless to the fact that you have committed these acts for the benefit of animal rights and wildlife." The lady Judge said as she adjusted her glasses. "Theft is still theft."

"Of course your honor."

"However….you did help save Gotham City from annihilation from a terrorist plot and District Attorney Dent had recommended a plea bargain..." The lady Judge brought out when pointing to Harvey Dent, who was helping out on the case on behalf of his friend Naruto. "I have decided to sentence you five years….of a probationary period."

This got the courtroom occupants to cry out in joy, for some reason, when hearing the verdict. Selina looked back to her two friends with a wide smile while getting the same reaction towards her.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam* "I'm not finished yet people!" The lady Judge called out to settle down the proceeding. She looked around the room to see if anyone else was going to cause a fuss before she continued.

"Now I'm warning you Ms. Kyle….If you ever dawn your Catwoman costume again to violate the law….Then I'll not only revoke your probation, but I'll throw the book at you and give you the full sentence up to twenty five years in prison."

"I understand madam Judge." Selina said as she composed herself in front of her.

"You may go now Ms. Kyle." The lady Judge said getting the court meeting to end and getting the occupants to slowly disperse from the room.

"Thank you for helping me out on this Mr. Dent." Selina said as she turned towards the DA who just gave her a reassuring smile.

"Hey don't sweat it Ms. Kyle. You should be thanking Naruto for me seeing your case. It would've come up on my desk eventually but he made me go search for it sooner than later." The man said getting the environmentalist to smile towards her silverette friend.

"I think I will, but still thanks." The raven haired woman said getting the DA to nod as he started packing up his things for the next stops for his day.

Selina was then greeted by a smiling Shizune and Naruto, with the later holding her coat during the proceedings. The raven haired woman took it from him and placed it on as they made their way out of the courthouse only to be assaulted by various reporters on the issue but Selina didn't want to say a thing at all. She was tired and just wanted to get back home and see her precious Isis after so long.

-Selina's and Shizune's Loft-

"Oh Naruto, Shizune….I can't believe I'm finally free." Selena said as she walked through the door of her loft. It felt great for her to be back as she went into her bedroom and laid on top of its soft sheets and comfy mattress before rolling off to the side to look underneath the furniture. She ended up doing this throughout the loft as she was indeed looking for something...or someone.

"Huh, she's not here…." The environmentalist said to herself before calling out to her two friends.

"What are you looking for Selina?" Asked the Uzumaki.

"Why Isis of course. I don't see here here at all. Maybe she's in your loft Naruto." She said as she made her way to the door.

"Selina….there's something we need to tell you." Shizune said in a tone that didn't sound all that good to her roommate.

She stopped in her tracks as she looked at the two and something started to click as her features started to show worry. "Guys….where is Isis? Where is my cat?"

"We don't know Selena." Naruto said getting her attention. "I got back home from work when I saw my patio door opened with Isis' claw marks. I assumed she went into your loft and went down there but…."

"She didn't show up in here either when he stopped on by." Shizune picked up where Naruto left off. "I-I'm afraid she left to find you Selina."

"B-But how could you let this happen?!" She yelled out at them before she had to sit down and grabbed a picture of her with Isis when she was just a little kitten.

"We're sorry Selina and we looked everywhere for her when we could. We even checked out the animal shelters if she turned up there but there was no such luck." Naruto said as his friend hugged the picture frame to her chest for a few moments before she got up and went into her bedroom to open up the closet.

"What are you doing?" Shizune asked.

"What does it look like? I'm going out there so I can go find my baby." Selena said with determination in.

"Not alone you're not Selina." Naruto said to her, momentarily gaining her attention. "This is mostly my fault to begin with on not properly having the door secured after the several times she left."

She was about to say something but Shizune added into the conversation. "Besides, you need a friend with you and we don't know how long you'll be out. I would go with you but I'll stay here just in case of anything. Whether it's Isis coming back or of me calling the animal shelters again."

*Sigh* "Alright and thanks on this you two." Selena said as she closed the door to finish getting changed. When she got back out, she was in a pair of jeans with the bottoms rolled up a bit to show thick wool on the inside of the pants. She also wore a purple, turtleneck sweater with a leather jacket, a scarf and brown boots.

"Well, let's get going then." The environmentalist said as Naruto opened the loft door for her.

"Good luck." Shizune said to them as they walked out of the door.

-Hours Later-

Time passed for the two friends as they had been walking around Gotham in the various districts showing pictures of Isis on her own if anyone had spotted her. The same result had been going on with Naruto and Selina getting 'I'm sorry', 'Never spotted her', or responses of the sort. They not wanting to interrupt the search, Naruto went over to a passing food stand and got food for the two so time wouldn't be wasted.

'Even with all that training I've done in these past weeks, I can't seem to find Isis at all.' Naruto thought as he looked at Selena in worry. 'And now she's paying for my little mistake.'

After getting Pam admitted to Arkham, the silverette had been training again to improve his skills especially with the new found scythe he ended up getting from Yggdrasil. From what Naruto had noticed during his fight against Ivy's plants, he started to access into other abilities that started to make things interesting on how they were done. From running faster, able to cut through certain things with ease to finally being able to clone himself for the first time in years. It felt so exciting for him to finally be able to do all that after so long that he couldn't wait to train again to maybe make up for what he had lost since coming here.

First part of his training was once again meditation since he wanted to check on a few things. Yggdrasil had done something to him while they were chatting on Pam's 'Heart Platform' saying that he made the hazel eyed male have better access to the nature remnants inside of him with it being better stabilized. Naruto went back onto Pam's platform and tried to figure out what he could do exactly but with the knowledge he could possibly access 'Nature Chakra' again after so long he decided to do his 'Sage Training' again.

Sure enough he saw improvements that he can somewhat tap into that ability again of drawing natural energy into himself. But with his expansive void inside of him and with what remnants there are, it would take a very long time for him to have a fraction of his old 'Sage Mode'. But he got time and would come back to that concept at a later day.

The scythe though was an interesting one that he had gotten from mix of his powers and from what Yggdrasil did to him. When he was training out in the woods on what he could do with it, he did indeed cut through trees and rocks with a single swing….but of course the silverette apologized to the trees he had slaughtered. Naruto maneuvered through the forest with his scythe on hand and seemed to get a bit faster than moments prior. When he stopped, he saw some white flower petals falling behind him and confused the silverette more until thinking it was an odd perk his scythe gave out.

In the end, Naruto thought of giving his weapons names at some point once he had a better idea on what they can fully do. So with his scythe, he decided to give it the name Lunar Rose because it had the appearance of a plucked flower and the blade seemed to glow a little at night that reminded him of the moon.

The second part of his training was with the most of his current skill set. Sure his silence and memory abilities stayed the same with no real changes along with his other abilities. But Naruto realized that his physical attributes seemed better than before from his strength, speed and agility. When he had been doing his salmon ladder workout, it seemed that he wasn't really breaking a sweat at all with how easy he was doing the whole process. His agility and speed improved greatly when he was doing his mid-air tricks late at night that could possibly make any acrobat truly green with envy if they saw him.

The next bit of his training was focusing primarily on his speed as he had wondered how fast he could really go now. He went to a vacant race track so he could time himself on his speed and figure out how much of a difference there were between each of the laps. It was quite….interesting when he was starting to gain speed with such a rush that the former shinobi didn't realize he ended up running into a tree. Sure it felt really, really bad when he made the impact and he swore he heard some animals and trees mockingly laugh at him. He didn't know how that happened but he made a clone to watch what he did moments prior. Naruto ended up in the same situation as before with those same laughs aimed towards him but this time he got the answer he wanted.

It turned out that Naruto gained more speed than he realized that he was on one part of the track and ended up teleporting or warping to the other side with him not getting better footing thus him crashing into the tree. The publisher soon guessed he would have been able to find the equivalent to his old body flicker technique to some extent or further than that. Who knows on what that warping ability of his was capable of to its full extent.

Lastly, he wanted to hopefully improve more on his presence sensing and clone abilities. He was pretty excited that he can clone himself again and hopefully could try to make more than one to maybe get some stuff done if needed. But the ability is quite 'fresh' that his limit so far is just one and just like his original shadow clone technique will split the person's reserves to make it, which he doesn't have that much apparently. With the sensing one, it took some time trying to get a better hang of it that instead of pinpointing generalized people in a room that now he can somewhat pinpoint to a rough location in one. Granted it still has come kinks to rough out but the silverette wished he could've mastered this when trying to find Isis.

"...I hope Isis is okay on her own." Selena said getting the former shinobi out of his thoughts with him catching the last part she said.

"She probably is doing fine Selina. I'm certain you did a lot in teaching her how to do certain tasks. I bet she swiped a big fish from a vendor and ate it all up while sneaking into some warm place to sleep at night." Naruto suggested getting her to smile slightly.

"You're probably right. I did teach her quite a lot….though I regret teaching her how to open certain doors now." She said as they ended up at one ally where she pulled out her cat whistle and blew with no results.

"She just misses you, that's all. Don't blame yourself on what happened."

*Sigh* "I know Naruto." She said before a rush of cold wind came at her, making her shiver. In response, Naruto wrapped his arm around her and brought her close to possibly get her warm. Realizing what he did, he let go a bit as he looked away.

"Sorry….didn't mean to do that." He said with a slight blush from both the cold air and from slight embarrassment.

"N-No it's quite alright." Selina said with a light blush on her features. "Y-You can hold me close if you want. It's colder than I expected it to be."

"I-If you say so." Naruto said as he hesitantly wrapped his arm around her to keep her close for warmth as they kept on walking.

'Why am I feeling this way?' The raven haired beauty thought as her eyes drifted to the handsome publisher. 'He's being a worried friend wanting to help me out is all...But why is my chest pounding a little harder?'

*Meowr* *Meowr* A cat called out getting the two friends' attention as they neared an alleyway.

"Isis?" Selena hopefully asked as she went into the alleyway in front of Naruto….only to see two cats facing against each other with a half eaten fish in between them. The two soon turned towards the raven haired woman and hissed at her.

"Hey….don't worry. We're friends." She said when she pulled out cat treats out of her coat pocket.

"When did you have time to get those?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. He never saw her grab those in her kitchen or from any shop they passed on by.

"You. Shhh." Selena said to him before turning back to the cats and placed the food in front of them. They ate it with gusto getting Silena to squat down and start petting them. Deciding to not feel left out, Naruto did the same action causing the two cats to enjoy the nice sensations.

The little enjoyment was interrupted when a van started pulling into the alley way, causing Selina to pull Naruto into a connecting corridor because of an old habit with her burglary jobs.

She looked back to see who came in before looking back to Naruto with him with a slight blush on his face. The raven haired beauty was confused before noticing their current placement of them very close together. Their legs were separated and were settled in between each other having their pelvises practically touching. Her hands were settled on his strong, firm chest with their faces being somewhat close that got her better details on his eyes.

'Have they always been that bright?' She thought as she kept looking at his powerful, yet gentle gaze. 'It's like looking into the eyes of a strong lion….Selina focus!'

'Her eyes….they look beautiful like deep, pretty Jade jewels.' He thought as he tried to focus anywhere but the other parts of the body right now that are touching Selina.

"Fleabags…." A woman's voice called out interrupting the two friends' thoughts. "Dirty rotten, stinking fleabags. Get them Paunch."

The two looked to where the voice was coming from and saw a woman in a blue, winters outfit with a large man in a brown one and they were trying to nab the cats in a mistreated fashion.

"Come to mama you stinking furball." The woman said as she got the net on the one feline cowering in the corner.

'Ok that's it!' Both friends unknowingly thought the same thing as they moved from their placement, with slight difficulty, before they moved in front of the pair of people nabbing the cats.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" Selena said as she stomped on the handle of the net.

"Catching strays." The woman said with a sneer. "What's it to ya?"

"Obviously you two aren't with any animal shelters since they have a better approach at this." Naruto said getting Selena to nod at the fact.

"So then why are you after these cats?"

The woman pushed the raven haired environmentalist away as she growled back. "None of your business! So piss off!"

"Fine." Naruto said as he grabbed the net from the man's grasp. "But we're taking these guys with us."

"Hey!" The man yelled out as he tried to grab Naruto, only to be met by the end of his boot when being kicked away to the other side of the alley way. Selena somewhat did the same thing when the woman tried to hit her but the environmentalist had grabbed her wrist and brought it behind the person's back.

"We'll ask again: Why are you after these cats?!" Selena growled out.

"Gah! Let go you stupid bitch!" The woman yelled out before turning to her partner. "Paunch! Do something you idiot!"

The man shakily got up as he ran towards the two friends, only to be met by his tossed partner as they ended up hitting the nearby trashcans. They shook out of their stupor and kicked the trash cans to the two friends as they fell over. Paunch then got up and picked up another trash can to hit the friends with it…..only to be hit with a batarang instead.

"Paunch?" The woman questioned as she ended up inside of a trashcan, courtesy of the Batman.

"Hey! You can't do this to me!" She yelled out as Selina hit the can from the side to disorient the woman.

"Oh put a lid on it would ya?" Selena said getting the woman to scramble away, only to hit the alley wall instead to end up falling over.

"You know," Batman said getting the two friends' attention, "you are supposed to stay out of trouble Ms. Kyle."

"Well it wasn't her fault Batman since those two are at fault for mistreating the stray cats." Naruto pointed out before Selena spoke up.

"If you've been following me to be my 'parole officer', how often do you want me to check in?" She said only to hear a police car pull up onto the scene with their sirens going off. The two friends looked to the source and when looking back they saw the Dark Knight had disappeared.

"Ass. Should've stayed to help explain things." Naruto muttered as a pair of cops came up to them.

"Alright. Mind explaining what's going on here?" The officer said to the two. She was of hispanic origin with her tanned skin with black eyes and her long hair tied in the back. The other officer's features were covered with his back turned as he was struggling to get the trash can off of the woman's body.

"Sorry about this officer….?" Naruto said in wanting to know their names.

"Right. Name's Officer Montoya and my partner is Officer Uchiha." Montoya said as she pointed out her partner.

'Uchiha?' Naruto thought as he looked to the side to see the person struggling to get the metallic can off. 'Huh...An Uchiha in law enforcement. Well there is that similarity from back 'home'.'

The woman soon got free from her confinement before pointing to the two friends. "Those two jumped us! I wanna press charges!"

"They were stealing cats!" Selina called out on their action.

"Stealing from who exactly you dumb broad. They don't belong to anybody." The woman said as she went up to her partner and got him up. "We were just rounding them up and get them to the nearest shelter when they attacked us."

"I call bullshit." Naruto said to the two. "You guys were mistreating them from what we saw."

"If they worked for any shelter, they would've done a better job handling them if what those two are speaking is true." The Uchiha spoke out getting Naruto to look at him now and saw that it was this world's Sasuke. He appeared to be in his early twenties with his hair cut short or had all his 'duck-butted' hair style tucked away into his officer hat.

'Hope this one isn't an 'avenging, broadening asshole' like back home. If he isn't then I'll be fine with him.' The Uzumaki thought as he was looking at this world's counterpart of his old 'friend'.

"Still though, we should bring the lot downtown." Montoya said as she pulled out several handcuffs.

"Downtown?" Selina questioned with slight worry in her voice.

"Please come along quietly and things will run smoothly if you do." Sasuke said as he placed the handcuffs on the two thuggish people.

"Selina do as they say, it'll indeed be better if we don't resist." Naruto suggested to his friend getting her to sag her shoulders.

*Sigh* "Ok." She muttered as Montoya placed the handcuffs on her. The group was then led to the police vehicle, which was a van and the lot was escorted inside of it for transport to the station. Sasuke had radioed in for a tow-truck so it can be taken to the station as well.

-Later, GCPD-

The doors were opened onto the darkened entrance as Naruto and Selena walked out of the precinct.

"Man I thought we'd never leave." Naruto said as he rotated his shoulder with it feeling locked while being in that cell with Selina.

"I agree." She replied back only to be greeted with Shizune with her coat.

"Shizune! Were you the one that bailed us out?" She asked her roommate getting her to shake her head before pointing to the car with a man standing in front of it. Naruto recognized the man as Alfred so that means….

"Seems that Bruce got us out of this jam." Naruto said as he walked Selina to the car. "You coming Shizune?"

"Nah I have some errands to run before heading back to the loft." She said getting the publisher and environmentalist to nod as they kept walking to Bruce's car.

"Hey Alfred, how's it going?" The silverette said as he greeted his employee's boyfriend.

"Doing quite well Mr. Uzumaki." The englishman replied back. "It's good to see you in better moods since I last saw you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." The silverette responded as he opened the car door and ushered Selina inside. Once both were in, Alfred got into the driver's seat and went off.

"Thanks for doing this for us Bruce. I'll pay you back in full on the bail money." Naruto said as he greeted his friend.

"That won't be necessary Naruto." Bruce said as he tried to wave off the offer.

"But I insist."

*Sigh* "Alright."

"I gotta thank you as well Bruce. Your bail money went into good hands." Selina said to the dark haired man.

"But that's not important Selina. You are." He said as he placed his hand on hers getting her to jerk it back a little. Bruce saw this and felt worried if he did anything bad.

"Bruce… I like you a lot…. but only as a friend." She said as she tried to settle things down. "I hope you understand and I'm sorry if-"

"I understand completely." Bruce said as he held up his hand to calm his friend down. Though he seemed a little sad that a potential love interest settled that line but it was probably for the best. "Then as a friend. I want to say that this arrest will make it look bad on your probation."

"I agree and even on the very day you had your court hearing that this will wave a big red flag over your head." Added in the publisher.

"But I'll worry about that after I find my cat." Selena said getting Naruto to tell Bruce what happened with her pet cat making the dark haired man to nod on the details.

"But one thing that is bugging me is why those creeps from that alley way working for a big shot as a lawyer from Daggett Labs bailed them out." She questioned on that bit.

"Hell the guy came in too quickly to the station and got them out within an hour while the two of us spent time in that cell." The silver haired male said getting Selina to grunt in agreement.

"Roland Daggett is a dangerous man. You should be very careful when dealing with him."

"I know and I'll be sure to not be anywhere near him." The raven haired beauty said with a small glint in his eyes getting Naruto to notice this.

Before wanting to jump to anything, the silverette will need to track down Kurama again and find out what Roland Daggett is up to.

-Undisclosed Location-

"So how's the job going?" Kurama asked as he had the intercom speaker on when talking to one of his employees. Copperhead was not too far off from her boss/boyfriend as she was getting things organized in the room. Sometimes she hates it when they switch to so many locations at a time.

"I gotta say ninety nine," *GRAH* "point nine percent done. Son of a bitch." The man said on the other end. "Give me a moment."

Running could be heard on the line before gunshots were going off before the man grunted like he threw something onto a burning pyre of sort indicated with the feint fire sounds in the background. "Ok 100 percent done now."

"Good then I need to talk to you about the guests that are arriving tomorrow." Kurama said to the man.

"Are they hookers?"

"No."

"And like that, you lost me." He replied back getting the redheaded hybrid to rub his eyes.

"They are our financial suppliers. Even though we do well on most of our other businesses, it doesn't come cheap on what our other operations entail."

"Good god, they must really hate us."

"Yes...Yes they do. A reason why they canceled our budget." Kurama said with a twitch to his eye. 'All because of you.'

"Oh that's bad." The man said. "Copperhead, we need that right?"

"Yes we do." Replied the assassin.

"Thank you Copperhead."

"You're welcome." She said as she went back to her organizing.

"Look, over the past few years, we've had some….expensive claims."

"Like what?"

"First off, the property damage we had to try to keep hidden from the public and most governments."

"Ah~ Good times."

"Spending about $20,000 for Candi- .and that's Candy with an 'I' by the way."

"Yeah she really loved my treats~" The man said with a slight giggle. "Hope Cobblepot isn't still too pissed on that."

"Somewhat, with him out of his most reliable secretary for nine months or so." The hybrid added in, before pausing. "Then there's the fact of you painted some of our cars red and scrapped them."

"What? I wanted to see if they were better red instead of black."

"Even with the 'Hitler mobile'..."

"Oh please, the man had enough blood on his hands. Why not have most of said blood in question on his car?"

"...Even with goat's blood and rammed it to a Dairy Queen..."

"Eh~ I was hungry and drunk off my ass at the time."

"...There's also the killing of at least a dozen innocent people..."

"Anthony Hopkins did that and got a fucking Oscar for that."

"...the sexual harassment..."

"...I'm not apologizing for that."

"I know this is asking a lot from one of my top field operatives but…"

"But~"

"I need you to stay in your quarters until they're all gone." Kurama said, as he tried to control his breathing with how annoying his employee is at times.

"...I get the distinct impression that you're embarrassed of me."

"No shit!"

"Then I'm going to go with no."

"This is important," Kurama sighed, "And I don't need you to cause another scene."

"And I don't have to take this. I can just go for a walk till this all blows over."

"Oh no you don't you asshole!" Kurama snapped, since his man's one annoying habit was that he causes problems wherever he goes when he goes out for his 'walks'. A total bitch to clean up by the way.

"And who's going to stop me?" The man questioned. "Oh how about Michael Mc-Doesn't exist."

"How about me when I literally find you on my own and rip your head off your shoulders." Kurama snarled, ignoring as Copperhead came up from behind him and started to massage his shoulders to calm him down.

"And I'll reattach it back… in time."

*Sigh* "What do you want?"

"What~?"

"What do I need to give you to stay in your quarters for the duration of the meeting?"

"Well…..I need a few new guns for my collection." The man said to his boss. "Oh and I need a cannon. Bitches love cannons, if you know what I'm saying."

Kurama took a deep breath and exhaled, keeping calm as Copperhead kept working her magic on his shoulders. "What else?"

"I would like to have Anko-"

"Do I need to remind you the last time you requested her to touch your privates?" Kurama said with a small smirk on his face on remembering that… very enjoyable experience.

"...No."

"Then is there anything else?"

"I would like… one of those new wide screen TV's with the latest video games in the market right now. It'll keep me occupied to god knows when." He said before continuing. "Other than that, I've nothing else that comes to mind."

"Then I expect-"

"Oh and I need a truck load of chimichangas ready for my consumption with the latest porn there is."

"...Fine. Then I expect you to show up early tomorrow on time."

"Will do. Bye~" He said as he ended the call.

"Sometimes I want to fucking kill him and be done with it." Kurama said as he leaned back in his chair and massassed his forehead.

"Then we'll be down one of our profitable assets."

"I know and don't care right now. We have others that can pick up the slack." He said as he downed the bottle of alcohol on his desk.

Why didn't he hire Lawton or Wilson into his group? Either one of them would've done a better job but nooo, he decided to hire the Terminator's crazy cousin with a mouth that won't fucking shut up. The guy's good and all but fucking hell he causes problems whenever he goes.

"Hey honey… Naruto Uzumaki is here to see ya."

*Sigh* "Send him in Anko."

"Will do." She said in a happy tone. "So Naruto what's the progress on that book?"

"Will you just stop?" Kurama's former container said as the intercom went dead.

"Wonder what he is here this time for?" Copperhead asked as her lover shrugged his shoulders.

Soon Naruto walked through the doors with a twitch to his eye as Anko waved at him from her desk.

"Sometimes I wonder how you put up with her." The silver haired male said as he closed the door.

"I don't. I just let things roll and I get some fun action afterwards." The redhead said as he looked at the publisher with an annoyed look on his face. "You look like shit."

"Well I was in a prison cell for a few hours."

"At least it's better than the Blood Prison." The crime lord pointed out.

"True." Naruto said to his former tenant. "At least I had some company."

"Oh~ Did someone in there decide to make you his bitch."

"Fuck you asshole."

"Once again, do I need to remind you that I don't swing that way." Kurama said with a cheeky grin. Having fun on the former shinobi will help brighten his mood a bit after the call from earlier.

"No I was with Selina you 'furball'!" Naruto said in a comedic yell at the man.

"Then how was it with the prison romp with her."

Naruto's eyes were starting to twitch badly as he wanted to kill the Bijuu turned human and didn't care if Anko and Claudia gets upset about it.

"Look, can I at least get some information from you and I'll be on my way?"

"Sure why not. Had my fill of your joking misery right now." The crime boss said as he looked at the publisher.

Taking a deep breathe so he can calm down the slightly boiling anger in his system before he spoke. "Is there anything new as of late with Roland Daggett and his company?"

"Daggett huh… Claudia do you know anything with the man as of late?"

"Well from what I've heard was that he has had his pharmaceutical company is coming out with a hot new drug. An anti-toxin apparently."

"What's so special about that?" Naruto wondered as Claudia rubbed her head on that.

"Don't know for sure. The guy has had a tight lid on it, and had his best scientists working on it." She replied back. "Sadly none of our agents in his company haven't been able to find out what it is for."

"From what I can tell, it's quite suspicious and I want to find out what. Thank you for the information and have a good one." Naruto said as he started to leave Kurama's office.

"Well have fun storming the castle." The hybrid added in before Naruto left. "Should've stayed longer and had a nice chat with me."

"I think you probably wore out his patience the last time you chatted with him when dealing with Red Claw."

"True."

"So is he going to be fine?" Copperhead asked her lover.

"I said I'm not working on that book Anko!" Naruto's voice rang out from the other side of the door.

"Yeah he'll be fine. Batman will probably show up to investigate or whatever." The man said as he went back to other businesses for the day.

-Outside of Gotham, Daggett Labs-

"Good god, is it cold or what?" One security guard asked his partner. "How cold do you think it is? I bet it's below freezing right?"

"Highly doubt it but there's….well ice." The other guard replied as he gestured the ice covered pavement with lots of rock salt on it.

"Patrolling in the ice and snow. Give me a fucking break." Guard one said. "Do you know who doesn't go out on patrol this late in the day?"

"I'm sure you'll tell me." Guard two said with a droll in his voice at his partner's rant.

"Jenkins…..I bet the asshole is sitting in his comfy chair in the nice and warm monitor room."

"Well that's him I guess." God sometimes his partner doesn't stop bitching and moaning about the guy. He walked off the side to get away from him when something hoisted him up.

"I mean seriously. I've been doing monitor duty for eight weeks straight and when he complains to the boss that I'm not pulling my fair share of work I end up in this while he gets to enjoy and relax inside without the cold, winter air. So here I am doing this thing here with…. You."

The first guard brought up his gun and searched for where his partner went to as he spoke out. "Hey Murphy where you go man? Quit hiding around since it's not funny."

"In here…. I thought I heard something." 'Murphy' said getting the security guard to the man's location.

"What did you hear exactly? A stray cat or something?" The guard asked as he walked into the empty storage space.

"Yeah you can say something like that." A voice said as it changed from a man to a woman before knocking the guard out.

*Cough* "God I hate doing that." She said as she rubbed her throat to make it feel better. "One of the least favorite tricks I learned at the circus tends to wreck the vocal cords."

Once moving the body to a better hiding place so she can proceed with finding what is going on.

After being dropped off by Bruce Wayne, Selina made it to her loft and quickly nabbed her Catwoman attire before getting to her car and drove to her hideaway that is near the labs. Once there, she changed and headed out to the place where she had to take care of some guards before proceeding further. Honestly it was quite easy making it through with the security being a tad lax, especially after she made quick work with the one security guard in the monitor room.

It took a bit to navigate from checking room to room where they were keeping the stray animals but she eventually found it.

"Oh god, these poor animals." Selina said at the site of them being in cages. Their appearances weren't looking so good. "What the hell were they doing to you all?"

*Meowr* *Meowr*

She recognized that cry anywhere as Catwoman turned around to find…

"Isis!" Selina called out in worry as she got closer to her beloved pet before opening up the cage. "Oh my sweet baby. What did they do to you my precious?"

All of a sudden Isis seemed to go nuts as she fussed and hissed at her master. Before Selena knew it, her beloved Isis bit into her hand where the costume had the least fabric.

"Ow!" She yelled out dropping her cat as she held her hand. Isis then ran off as she went through the other door to the room. Soon the other animals in the room woke up and started making a fuss with some showing they had something similar to rabies and other problems.

"Well look what the cat dragged in?" Catwoman turned around to see the two people from the alleyway from earlier with one other person with a bob hair cut.

"Wow, that's one nasty cut you got there pussycat." The bob hair cut man said sarcastically. "Aren't you going to lick it better?"

"What did you do to these animals?" Selina demandingly asked.

"Nothing compared to what we are gonna do to you pussycat." The woman said as the three started walking towards her.

Not wanting to be caught. Selena pulled out her whip and had it clung onto a rolling table filled with chemicals and pulled to make it fall and make smoke. Using the distraction she left through the other doorway where Isis went through.

"Let's *Cough* skin that cat." The woman called out as she walked forward to the doorway.

"No Jessy. We got other priorities to attend to." The bob hair cut man said to the two.

"What do you mean Dr. Milo?"

"If you two yahoos didn't notice but she had been bitten." The now identified Dr. Milo pointed out. "She can run away from us all she likes but she can't run away from that toxin."

"Oh yeah. Guess you're right." She said before laughing a little.

Back with Selena, she had been chasing after Isis for a bit where she ended up on the lab's rooftop. Once making it past the doorway, she saw her beloved cat standing on the ledge.

"Isis! Wait!" Selina called out only to have a hiss as a response before the black cat leapt off of the building.

She made to the edge and looked down to see where Isis went until her vision started to go a little foggy. The environmentalist soon lifted up her goggles so the fogginess won't block her vision but apparently it wasn't the goggles at all since it was her eyes.

"M-My head." She said as he head started to feel like it was spinning. Not wanting to jump off like she normally would, she pulled out her whip and had lit latch onto part of the building's exterior before swinging down. She tried to jump but slipped due to the snow and ended up falling down to the ground hard with her whip coming with her due to the bad support.

She got up and started to run after her previous cat into the woods as her body wasn't feeling all that great now. It didn't matter as she needed to have her Isis back in her arms.

"Isis! Please stop!" Selina called out to her.

*Meowr!* Isis called out and hissed at her before running further away from her master.

The raven haired beauty kept on running, while staggering as her world started to spin. She was feeling too warm for comfort as she pulled the mask back to reveal her face to the cold world before her with sweat dripping from her brow. Even that wasn't enough as she had to unzip the front of her suit half way so the cold air could help on her heat.

"O-Oh god, wh-what's happening to me?" She said as she was starting to feel out of breath now.

She kept on staggering forward with Isis barely leaving her sites before she hit a wooden fence and flipped over into the snow. Her will starting to get weak as she tried to stand up and keep walking until she collapsed onto the road. Soon a car started to come close causing the raven haired woman to feel paler than she already was in fright thinking she might die now.

It stopped in front of her but through her perspective it seemed to get closer through hallucination. She started to crawl back in fright as something got out of the car and came towards her with another being coming up not too far from him.

"Pl-Please s-stay away!" Selena cried out in tears from the mixture of pain and fear running through her system as the person grabbed ahold of her.

"Selina! It's me Naruto!" A man called out getting Selena to focus her eyes to see her silverette friend holding onto her.

"N-Naruto." She weakly said as she soon saw Batman behind him. "Batman too?"

"Yeah he ended up following me since I had a feeling you were coming over here." Naruto said as he put his hand to her forehead.

"You're extremely hot Selina." He said in worry as Batman got a similar reaction.

"Hehehe So are you." She said clearly not in her right mind now.

"We need to get you to the hospital."

"You can't! Daggett will have me arrested if I do." She said as she was in tears that made Naruto's heart ache when seeing it.

"Then what should we do then?" Batman asked her.

"I-I have a hideaway not far from here. By the lake. It's in t-the cat statue."

The two men nodded as Naruto carried her to his car where Batman opened up the back seat so they can lay her down till they get to her hideout.

-Selina's Hideaway-

"Y-You know. Y-You haven't t-told me why you decided to come after me Batman." Selina said as she was laid out on a small bed with a window behind her for view of the lake. "Don't tell me you're starting to go all soft for us criminals now."

"Clearly you're delusional." He said as Naruto drained a wet cloth to dampen her head.

"Clearly the escape artist I see." She said as she coughed a little into her injured hand.

"Selina… What's this?" The hazel eyed man said as he took her hand.

"Isis… S-She bit me… She wasn't in her right mind." The raven haired woman said. "She wasn't well I swear and so are all of the other animals. Those people did something to them."

"Don't worry Selena. We'll take care of them I promise." Naruto said as he looked at Batman for confirmation on this.

"Same here." He said as he stood up from his position. Once Selina heard this, she leaned back and closed her eyes to try and rest.

"Don't worry Batman, I'll stay here and watch her condition. You go find out what Daggett is planning."

"That's the plan Mr. Uzumaki." The caped crusader said as he started to walk out. "I'll also find an antidote when I'm there. They might have one if they are really behind this."

"Then good luck." Naruto said back as the hero left leaving the two friends alone in the one room.

With a bit of time passing, Naruto kept on changing the water to help clean off Selina's sweat with her breathing trying to go at a normal pace. Key word trying.

"He'll be back Selina. Just give him a bit of time." Naruto said to help reassure her as she looked back at him with her eyes reddened from the pain and crying.

"How c-can you be so s-sure?" She said with a slight stutter.

"Just a little bit of faith is all." He said to her. "Besides, I trust him to help one of my precious friends after all."

"That's another thing," She interjected, "why did you call me your 'precious' friend? I know we are good friends….but why the addition to that?"

Naruto realized on what he said when she stated that and decided to explain.

"When I was barely a teenager, I came across a coastal town and I slept in the nearby forest since someone stole what money I had for my little trip so I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel for the night. It was morning when I was woken up by this one 'girl' I thought was very pretty at the time since 'she' didn't want me to catch a cold and I was sleeping on some plants 'she' was gathering for medicine." Naruto said with some altered information as he remembered his time at Wave. Selina kept on listening onto the details as it seemed familiar to her but couldn't put it where exactly.

"We got to talk for a while, which I couldn't fully remember all of the details, but one thing stood out the most of 'her' talking about 'precious people'. 'She' said that when someone has something or someone else important to protect with their lives, it makes them stronger than they already are. It seemed to click with me very well and I wanted to keep that notion with me for the rest of my life. I helped 'her' out gather up what medical plants were around as payment before 'she' left." He finished explaining to his friend as things started to come together.

"Y-You had th-that in your book...didn't you?" She asked for confirmation.

"Yeah I did. I based what I had experienced at the time for my book since I consider it very important to me. *Sigh* There are people that I have met that I consider good friends but others I have considered my most precious people in my life. Pam became someone truly precious to me with how much I love her and…..well I consider you someone really precious to me as well." The publisher finished off as he scratched his face with a slight flush from the cold and admittance.

"So…"

"Yeah?"

"You had a crush on a boy didn't you?" She said with the straightest face she could muster at the moment.

…..

"Seriously! That's all you got out of that?!" Naruto yelled out as he comedically pointed to her with an accusing finger.

She couldn't hold it in any longer as she started to laugh hard with some coughs in between.

"Yeah...yeah...laugh it up Selina." He said with a pout as that was an embarrassing moment for him as he did consider Haku very pretty but that came on crashing down when Haku admitted 'she' was a boy.

"S-Sorry *cough* I needed that badly and I couldn't resist." Selina said to him as he looked back at her.

"Hey it's alright and I forgive you on that."

"But s-seriously though….you consider m-me one of your most precious people?" She asked him.

"Most definitely." He answered with a smile that warmed her heart.

With the time of him helping her out with that wildlife preserve, visiting her in prison and helping her get out of it; she truly considered all that to help back up that claim.

Soon the two heard barking in the distance as Naruto peaked through the window on what is going on. He felt Selina shift in her bed so she can see what is going on making him hold her up for a better view.

"T-Thanks." She said as she turned towards the scene of Batman running across the frozen lake with a rabid dog chasing after him. The hero dodged to the side getting the dog to skid on the ice before it tried to get back up while the Dark Knight slowly walked so he wouldn't fall or start breaking the ice. The dog soon got up and lunged at the hero, causing him to fall and made their worries worse with the hero fighting the mad beast off.

"Oh no!" Selina weakly yelled out as Naruto held onto her and rubbed her gently to calm her down.

Soon the two saw people exit from a van parked a bit away from the lake and walk onto the ice with one of them aiming a gun at the hero. The two were soon confused with what went next as the dog got off of the hero and just wandered around a little before the one person started shooting at the ice around Batman. The ice soon crumbled as Batman fell into the icy water getting Selina to cling onto Naruto for support.

For what seemed forever for the two only lasted for barely a minute as Batman soon rose up from the icy water after taking care of those thugs.

"T-Thank god he made it." Selina muttered as she started to feel droopier than before.

"Same here and he'll be here soon to help. Just like I told you." Naruto said as he awaited for her response.

"Selena….." He looked at her and put his hand to her mouth and nostrils to feel if she was breathing. There hardly was any at all.

"No…. No no no!" Naruto yelled in panic as he laid her prone form onto the bed and checked her pulse as it was starting to go down. Acting fast, he started to perform CPR on her as he placed his hands on her chest and started pressing it down to hopefully get her breathing and heart back up.

'Not again! I can't let this happen again!' The former shinobi thought as he was determined to bring her back long enough for Batman to arrive with a possible antidote. He placed his mouth on hers and blew into it before checking if she was breathing again. This action kept going on for Kami knows how long, which scared Naruto greatly.

He didn't want to lose someone precious to him. He almost lost Pam the first time and he isn't going to let that happen to Selina.

Just as all hope seemed lost, Selina took in a slight bit of breath before coughing a bit.

"Selina!" Naruto said in relief as he hugged her. "Don't scare me like that!"

"W-What do you mean?" She asked as she soon peeked over her shoulder and saw Batman coming towards them.

"I got the antidote. It's a viral anti-toxin and she just needs to breathe it in." He said as he came to the two. Naruto turned around to see the hero of Gotham with the antidote and nodded on the information.

"Ok then Selina, you're going to need to lay back down so your airways can be fully opened." Naruto said to her as she weakly nodded at the request. Soon she breathed in the viral anti-toxin as the effects were slowly appearing with her skin going into it's natural tone, her breathing getting back to normal and her no longer feeling hot. Not soon after, she started to fall asleep with how exhausted she is from today's events.

"It seems to be working." Naruto said in a hushed tone as he saw the caped crusader have a hint of a smile on his face.

"Then I need to get going and alert the authorities on what's going on." The hero said as he started to head out.

"You do that. I'll keep her here before I get her to her loft." The publisher said to the Bat. "Need to be sure the antidote fully works out or if something is amiss."

The Uzumaki looked back for a response only to hear the Batmobile's engines roaring into the cold night as it sped off to the GCPD and wherever else there is to do for the man's evening. As the sounds of the vehicle faded from the distance, Naruto turned his attention back to his friend and covered her back up with the blanket before wiping off any residual sweat so she won't get sick after she got better.

"Don't worry Selina, I'm here and everything will be fine." He said to her as he adjusted to his seat so he could properly rest as well from the long day the two had.

-Next Day, Selina's and Shizune's Loft-

"Well it says here and on the news that people are calling you a hero Selina." Shizune said as she held up a copy of the Gotham Times with the headline of 'Batman and Catwoman Uncover Medical Scheme'.

"Sooner or later they might start making Catwoman dolls and halloween costumes for little girls." Naruto added in as he came in from the kitchen with some hot tea for the three of them.

Yesterday was quite crazy for the two friends with what happened. After the two woke up, with Selina feeling much better, they went out to get themselves a hot breakfast at a nearby diner when they saw on the news that Batman uncovered a potential plot upon the city and that Catwoman assisted him. This at least got Selina to have a better public opinion from the Red Claw plague event and now this.

"I know but I wish it could've been better on the results." Selina said as she took one of the cups

"On the fact that Isis hasn't been found yet or that Daggett had gotten himself out of the hot mess." Naruto added in

It was stated on the news that Roland Daggett got away scott free on the accusations with him stating that the people of the one lab were making the one virus without him knowing. It was to make it look like he was innocent in the whole situation with him disavowing all of the employees working at the area. So for now the man is being investigated on what is going on but the silverette has a feeling that Daggett will rear his ugly head back one way or another.

"Both." She muttered as she opened up the patio door to get some fresh air and clear out the stuffiness of the loft.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Shizune asked as she got up and headed towards the door.

"Yes I'll be fine Shizune." The environmentalist said. "You go out and enjoy your date with that teacher of a boyfriend of yours."

"I will. Iruka and I had been wanting to go out for a while so this means a lot to us." The assistant said as she opened the door. "And don't worry, she'll turn up eventually. I know she will."

"I hope your right." Selina said as Shizune left for the day.

"She is right Selena, you just need to give it time. She'll turn up eventually and if not we can go out and keep searching for Isis." Naruto said to hopefully raise her spirits.

"But what if she doesn't come back?" She responded back at him with sadness in her voice. "What if she is….gone….and the virus…."

Naruto cut her off as he hugged her and he patted her head to hopefully calm her down more. "Don't say that Selina. She'll be fine and is a strong girl. You just need to have faith is all."

Selina slightly smiled at this while in his embrace as she felt a tad better despite what has happened. Ever since last night, she didn't know what was going on if it was just the sickness or something else. But she started to feel truly safe while being near the silverette and her heart starts to beat a little faster whenever she is in his grasp or touching him.

Unknownst to the two, a shadow appeared on the patio floor as a basket started to come on down from the floor above. The basket moved to show two green eyes poking out from the darkness of the sheet. It soon moved more and jumped out of it's placement to land on top of the silverette head.

"The hell?" Naruto said as a weight suddenly came upon his head. Selina looked up from the suddenness when she saw….

"ISIS!" She yelled out in joy as she took her beloved cat off of Naruto's head.

"Oh thank god you're alright Isis! I missed you so much!" Selina said as she kept on kissing her precious baby and spinning around in joy.

Naruto smiled at the interaction and couldn't help but be glad to see the two together again after so long. Hell he can see the happiness in their eyes shine brightly. But there was something that seemed to bug him now.

"How did she get here? And how did she get up high enough to jump on my head?" Naruto asked getting Selina to pause in the action.

"Yeah...how did you get here Isis?" She asked as her cat turned her head towards the basket on the patio floor. They soon saw the shadow move causing the two friends to move to the entrance to see who did this. Their questions were soon answered as heard some cloth ruffling and soon they saw Batman gliding away from the building.

The two gained smiles on their faces and got closer to each other as Isis started to loudly purr in their warmth. The warmth of a mother and the warmth of a comforting man.

-End Chapter-