The Cat and the Bat meet PT 1

*Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep*...*Beep*…..*Beep*...*Beep*

The sounds of the heart monitor filled the room as Naruto sat in one of the chairs. His hazel eyes were evidently red from crying when he found her in the wreckage of the botanical department of Star Labs. The memories were still fresh in his mind and every time he kept thinking of that moment hours ago he would unshed freshly made tears.

He had just gotten off from a long day at work when he had gotten the phone call from Pam that she need a ride to either of their places due to her car not working. He was so happy to hear that she had finally completed the serum, the life's dream of both her and the Hollands, that he had several ideas running through his head on how to properly celebrate the accomplishment. But as Naruto was getting closer to his destination, a growing feeling was rising in the pit of his stomach that something was going to happen. His gut never failed him before, asides from prior moments of him having food poisoning, that he sped his car past the speed limits.

When he came onto Star Labs, everything seemed fine and went towards the entrance of the building until the botanical labs exploded in a fiery blaze. He feared of what happened and quickly called 911 and reported what happened before hanging up to find Pam. Naruto had to use his powers to get rid of most of the debris so he can properly search her. Eventually he made it to her lab and found her underneath a bookcase with various cuts and burns along with most of her hair burned off.

Once he got outside, with Pam in his arms, he was greeted with the sight of the paramedics showing up and he had brought his girlfriend to them. For the entire ride towards the hospital, he felt like he was having mini-heart attacks with seeing Pam's vitals going out of control as they tried to stabilize her. Even with the surgery, which he couldn't track how long it took, all he could think about was Pam and wished she can make it through.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the door to the hospital room open to see Bruce Wayne there.

"Naruto. I just got back into town when I heard of what happened and I came as soon as I could." He said as he quietly closed the door.

"Hey Bruce…..Sorry that you had to come back to this." Naruto tiredly said to him before looking back at Pam. Bruce looked around the room to see a spare chair and pulled it next to the publisher.

"How is she? Is she going to pull through?"

"Barely…..I was so damn lucky that an ambulance showed up when it did and had to keep her stabilized on the ride over. If…..If they didn't respond quick enough….."

"Naruto, don't think of that."

"How could I Bruce?" The publisher said to the dark haired man. "If only I could've been there sooner then none of this would've happened...Then this wouldn't happen to Pam."

Nothing was said after that as the sounds of the heart monitor were filling up the room. Bruce then glanced over to Pam's prone form and took in the various details of her appearance. Many wraps were around her body that made her look like a stereotypical mummy with hints of her right leg being in a cast underneath the bed sheets. There were many wires attached to her body with some tubes were inserted into her to help with her breathing.

"So what's her condition?" Bruce asked

"From what I was told by the doctor, there are burns of various degrees around her body that will take time to heal. She has scars around her body from the glass along with her right leg being broken. But...I'm more worried about her head." The Uzumaki stated piquing Wayne's brief curiosity.

"What do you mean?"

"They said that there was a deep gash on her head with some blunt force trauma from what they had seen through x-rays and CAT scans." Naruto said as he slowly tightened his hands. "I….I'm worried Bruce. I-I don't know if Pam will forget about me or her mother or anything she considered her precious in her memories."

Bruce placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder before speaking. "Naruto, she'll be fine. You just need to try and relax. She's in very capable hands."

"I know Bruce. I just hope…..I just hope she wakes up alright."

"Excuse me Mr. Uzumaki." A voice called out getting the two people to look towards the doorway to see one of the hospital's nurses. "Commissioner Gordon is outside and would like to speak with you."

"Oh, ah thank you." Naruto said with slight surprise as he rose from his seat and headed out of the room with Bruce soon following. Naruto was about to get out when he momentarily glanced back to Pam's unconscious form before stepping out.

The two men looked around before seeing Commissioner James Gordon by the nurses station along with Detective Harvey Bullock. James Gordon had a well fit appearance in his suit and tie attire while wearing a brown trench coat. He had combed auburn hair with the sides of his head showing signs of it going grey while wearing a pair of thick rimmed glasses with a thick mustache. Harvey Bullock was a….pleasantly plump, dark haired man wearing a yellow shirt and red tie while the rest of his attire was dark grey on the pants, trench coat and his hat.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I'm sorry to what has happened and you have my condolences." The auburned man said to the publisher.

"Thank you Commissioner." Naruto replied back. "So is there any reason why you two are here?"

"Yes there is. My investigators had searched Star Labs to figure out what happened since I didn't want to rule out of 'accidental gas leaks' unlike some people I know." James said before glancing to the detective who was innocently whistling while munching on a donut.

"And did you find anything for how this happened?"

"We did. It took a while to search through the wrecked lab that we found several things."

"Which would be…..?" Bruce asked since he was curious as well.

"We found a burnt up corpse in the lab and once going through dental records, we were able to identify it as Dr. Jason Woodrue." This surprised the two men and wondered why he was in there.

"But why was he there? Was Woodrue there to help Pam out?" Naruto asked getting Gordon to shake his head.

"I'm afraid not. After going through the autopsy report, it showed that the man's throat was gouged out indicating that Ms. Isley had stabbed him."

"B-But why would she do that? There is literally not a mean bone in her body as far as I have known her." Naruto argued in hopes of protecting her. "When I found her, she was all cut up and underneath a bookcase."

"I wasn't finished Mr. Uzumaki and I'm not accusing her on cold blooded murder." The Commissioner said to calm the publisher down. As the silverette did, the bespectacled man continued with his explanation.

"I had my investigators look through the security tapes at Star Labs to figure out what happened and it was revealed that the late doctor was the cause of the explosion."

Naruto felt several things go through his system as he narrowed his eyes and slowly tightened his fists. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm down a bit more.

"Mind explaining please." The hazel eyed man said getting Gordon to nod.

"Once going through the video footage, it was revealed that Woodrue was rummaging through Ms. Isley's lab in the attempt of stealing her work and pass it off as his own. After coming up empty, he ended saying his intentions and confessing that he had hired people down south to steal the work from Alec and Linda Holland but they ended up killing them."

"He did what?!" Naruto growled out in response. Gritting his teeth, he tried to calm down but it was wasn't helping all that well.

"Yeah and your botanist girlfriend ended up hearing his confession and started yelling at him." Bullock said after finishing his donut. "That was before the asshole tried to kill her."

"Harvey, that's not helping." Gordon sternly said to his detective.

Gritting his teeth badly as his anger was starting to rise to the surface while his hands were tightly gripped enough to break the skin. Blood would've dropped if his powers didn't make it fade away. Bruce had placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder to calm him down. He was going to yell at his friend when he saw Pam's prone form through the room's window.

"If Woodrue was still alive and kicking then I would kill him myself for what he has done." The Uzumaki growled out as he was starting to well up in tears.

"Well Ms. Isley is being counted for self defense and we had called Louisiana State police of what happened so they can inform the Holland's family and friends while searching for the hired thugs." James informed the two civilians.

*Sigh* "Thanks for letting us know Gordon. I'm glad that despite Woodrue being dead, that he has been brought to justice." The publisher stated getting the others to nod at that.

"But one thing that I don't get is, why didn't Woodrue stop the security tapes from running before he raided Pam's lab?" Bruce questioned to fill in that little gap.

"Guess he was too impatient and rummaged the place before doing that. Successful or not, he would've erased the tapes afterwards." Bullock said as the others felt a little satisfied despite the incident from earlier.

"Anyways, we should get going. I hope you rest easily Mr. Uzumaki." The Commissioner said before he and the detective left."

"Thanks for holding be back there Bruce. I would've blown my top if you hadn't."

"No problem." Wayne said. "So what will you do now?"

"I'm staying here for the night. I-I don't want to leave Pam's side and I want to be here when she wakes up…..hopefully."

"She will Naruto. Just give her time." Bruce said as he as starting to walk away.

"I should thank you Bruce." The silver haired male said getting his friend to turn around.

"For what exactly?"

"For blackmailing me to go to the gala." Naruto said getting Bruce to adopt a confused look.

"Why would you thank me for that? Wouldn't you be mad at me for doing that to you?"

"Oh I'm still mad at that so expect a prank going your way."

Bruce shuddered when hearing that tidbit. From what he had heard about the Uzumaki that he had pranked several people badly that left him become a bit infamous on the actions. One of them was sneaking into one person's office last week and painting the entire place in 'kill-me' orange. The police couldn't pin Naruto to the incident, but they all knew the silverette was the culprit.

Unknown to Bruce, Naruto was thinking of the same event. When the publisher was training to use his skills when Pam was out of town, he wanted to test his current skillset on a few individuals. During a previous date with Pam, one man was harassing his girlfriend in various ways that made Naruto want to punch his clock in, but the man was of high standing in Gotham and Naruto couldn't lift a finger against him. So once Pam was gone, Naruto used his 'grappling scarf' and phasing ability to break into the man's office and finally release some long awaited pranking.

'Ah, it felt so damn good to do that.' The former shinobi thought with a chuckle before shaking his head. "No, I'm talking about that if you hadn't blackmailed me then I wouldn't have met Pam."

"She was there?" Bruce asked in surprise.

"Yes she was." The publisher said with a small smile. "Anyways I'll see you later Bruce."

"See you later then Naruto and hope you have a pleasant sleep over this."

"I'll try Bruce. I'll try."

With that said and done, Bruce headed off his way while thinking over the recent events. He felt horrible on what happened to his friend's girlfriend and wished he could've prevented that but it's too late now.

'Maybe I'll help out by paying off the medical bills. Though I'll have to wait and see how the Star Labs board of directors will do with the recent events before I act on my own accord.' The billionaire thought as he headed home for the evening before going out on patrol as the Dark Knight.

Back with Naruto, he headed back inside of the hospital room and sat back down next to Pam's bedside. He slipped his hand into hers and gripped it slightly.

"I don't know if you can hear me or not Pam but I finally learned of what happened. I-I'm so sorry on what happened to you and I wish this didn't happen to you at all. I was so scared when I saw the botanical labs explode and I rushed in to find and see if you okay."

At this point, the silver haired male felt his voice breaking as those memories earlier came back. "B-But when I found you…..O-Oh Kami…..I didn't think that you would've made it, but I needed to save you. I-I couldn't imagine my life now without you with how much you mean to me."

By now, he was shedding tears and tried wiping them away with his other arm but it was no use. "I love you so much that it would've killed me if you died. So please…..do me a favor and live for me…..The Pam I know and love doesn't give up this easily. You never gave up on your passion for the environment and you did everything you can to make it better by making that serum of yours. You finally accomplished your goal along with the Hollands but you can't stop there Pam. You've got to see this through."

*Sniffle* "So please….. *Sniffle* Please wake up Pam. I love you." He said as he leaned up and kissed her cheek before leaning his head on his other arm on the bed as a makeshift pillow for the night while slightly crying himself to sleep.

If he would've seen her face, he could've seen a tear fall down from one of her eyes that gained a faint, green glow before it died out.

-Few Days Later-

"Well….. I hope that this night goes well." Naruto said as he pulled his car up to the building where the Animal Rights event was taking place before a vallet came up to him to park it. Once stepping out of the car, some people recognized him as he wore a dark grey suit and tie. As the publisher was past the entrance of the building, he was remembering what occurred in the past several days.

Ever since that night when Pam was admitted to the hospital, Naruto was down in the dumps to a certain degree but he did what he could to try and raise his spirits. For the past few days for roughly an hour or so, he would stop on by with a bouquet of flowers to check up on her and inform her unconscious form on the day's events. He had requested the doctors to inform him if any changes happened to her since he was now her emergency contact like the very moment when she wakes up so he can come and see her. Even during the one of the visits, he had seen Grace stop on by to check up on Pam and give her condolences from both her and Harvey.

From what Naruto had heard from Star Labs after the incident, the board of directors of the Gotham branch fully discredited Dr. Jason Woodrue on what he has done that night and had wanted to pay Pam's medical bills in full from Woodrue's salary and earnings they had seized from his bank accounts and assets. It did help settle Naruto's nerves a bit more that Woodrue would be paying more for what he has done especially with what remaining money that was taken was sent off to the friends and family of Alec and Linda Holland for their troubles. But it still didn't fix on what had been done as it will be a rough time to heal from.

The other thing that Naruto has done during the past few days was working more on his Loveless story since he wasn't in the mood to train in his abilities at the time. With the recent events and the drive, Naruto was able to finish up the third act while starting on the second to last act of his book. Possibly by the next month, he might be able to finish up writing the 'epic poem' before getting it edited and then published in the following month.

Back to the current matter at hand, Naruto made it to the event hall where the 'dating auction' was taking place to see the room somewhat jammed packed with a variety of Gotham's wealthy and celebrities. It was going to be very hard to navigate and make his way through without fully playing one of his 'favorite' games 'Know your neighbor.'

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" A familiar voice called out from behind as the silverette turned around to see Bruce in one of his nice suits.

"Oh hey Bruce. Man it is really packed here isn't it?"

"Yes it is but you still didn't answer my question. Why are you here? I thought you would still be looking over Pam." Bruce stated as he crossed his arms with a small smile seeing his friend here.

"Well if you remember, Pam wanted me to attend this event since its helping out the wildlife." Naruto told the billionaire. "Besides, if I didn't go to this then Pam would probably kick my ass six ways till Sunday."

This got Bruce to laugh a little at the statement as he knew that Naruto must've kept his promise with Pam regardless of what happened to her.

"So are you going to be participating by being auctioned off or going to buy yourself a date?"

"Neither I'm afraid. I promised Pam I would attend and even with recent events I think it would be hard for me to attempt to buy a date or even try to go upstage. Even I have limits despite Pam possibly wanting to see me up there and wonder how much someone will bid for me."

Hearing this, Bruce nodded at Naruto's excuse.

"Well then, I think you should still head over to get yourself checked in at least and inform them that you wouldn't want to be bidded on then."

"I'll do that then."

Naruto walked off in search of the 'check-in' station since it was supposed to be inside of the event hall unless he was mistaken and it was supposed to be outside of it. As he made his way through the crowd, he end up bumping into a woman on an accidental shove from someone else.

"I'm so sorry about that." He apologized. "It's really hard to move around here with all these people."

"It's no problem at all." The female said as she turned around to see the one apologizing to her.

When the two looked at each other, they ended up dismantling each other through their gazes to take in as much detail as they can. The woman had short black hair in a pixie cut with bright and sharp green eyes while wearing a red, strapless dress that hung around her neck as it flowed past her ankles and hugged her form nicely. She wore little to no make-up with her just having red lipstick along with a pair of earrings that matched the little ornament on her dress just above her breasts. In his honest opinion, she was rather stunning and he tried to keep a blush down. But something about her was nagging at him at the back of his skull that he had seen her before, but where.

On the woman's end, she couldn't help but admire his appearance as well and wondered if he was participating in this event so she could maybe buy a date from him. When she saw the blush, she couldn't help but found it cute with it brightening up his cheeks a little to pop out his whisker marks.

'They must be birthmarks since there is no way they can be tattoos or scars.' She thought to herself.

"S-Sorry and don't mind me staring. Didn't know if you were fine with that." Naruto said to her as he scratched the back of his head in his nervous habit.

"It's quite alright. In fact I was checking you out as well so don't feel too bothered by that."

"Well if you insist." He laughed a little before composing himself and held out his hand. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Selina Kyle." She responded as she shook his hand before remembering where she heard that name. "Aren't you the owner and founder of Spiral Publishing?"

"Guilty as charged." He said with a smile with his eyes closed that made her think that he was imitating a fox.

"I gotta say, I really love many of the books you published and even enjoyed the ones you wrote. But pardon me for asking but why are you here attending this event?" Selina questioned the publisher.

"Well I'm here because of my girlfriend on her insistence for me to come here for the wildlife." He answered which got her to feel disappointed on the response.

'Damn, he's already taken and such a shame too since he is quite the looker.' She thought without even showing it before a question came to mind.

"But if you're in a relationship, then why are you even here exactly? You plan on cheating on her?"

This got him to quickly argue on her little accusation. "No, nothing of the sort at all."

"Then why are you here?" Selina pressed on for an answer with a slight glare.

*Sigh* "Like I said, she insisted on me to go to this event with her." He said with a straight face. "But earlier this week, she was in an accident and is now in a coma at Gotham General. I made a promise with her that I would come here because of her love of the environment, both flora and fauna."

His response shocked her a little as she didn't know his girlfriend was in such a state. "I-I'm sorry to hear that Naruto. Forgive me on accusing you in such manner."

"It's alright Selina. No harm, no foul." He stated to reassure her. "I should've said more of that a bit ago but tried not to go too deep on that subject."

"It's fine and I understand." The dark haired woman said before a familiar voice to both people called out.

"Selina! There you are. I was looking all over for you." The voice said as the person came closer to the two and Naruto saw a familiar sight.

"Sorry about that Shizune. It's quite hard to move around here with so many people." Selina said before turning to Naruto. "Oh Shizune, I should probably introduce you. Shizune, this is Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto, this is Shizune my assistant."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Uzumaki." The assistant said to the silverette as she held out her hand while the other was holding onto a folder of sorts.

To Naruto, she looked very similar to the Shizune he knew back in his old reality but the only differences were the lengths and styles of their hair along with their *cough* assets. While the Shizune in his old world had short, straight hair with being uh….small chested. The Shizune in front of him had long, wavy hair that was tied back into a high ponytail with her having D-cup breasts along with her wearing a pair of glasses. For the rest of her attire, she was currently wearing a business suit despite the formal wear everyone else was wearing making her stand out a bit.

"Same to you Shizune." He said as he shook her hand in turn before addressing the green eyed woman.

"Since you've known what I do for a living, what about you Selina?"

"Well I mostly do fundraising for charities, which are primarily towards wildlife preservation." Selina explained which got Naruto to smile on the information.

"Ah, good to know. I have a feeling you mostly go to these events or others of the sort to seek out wealthy philanthropists and spend their money on good causes. Primarily for the betterness towards animal life."

"Very much so." Selina said with a smile. "I have a feeling you have a similar experience in this sort of thing."

"Remember when I said earlier with my girlfriend being very compassionate with wildlife, both flora and fauna?" She nodded at his question before he continued. "Well she is a botanist who was researching and developing a serum for the betterment of plant life and in turn animals."

"Really? Well that's interesting." Shizune responded with her friend nodding in agreement.

"You said 'was' if I'm not mistaken. Are you telling me she is done with her serum?"

"Yes she is and….well it's the reason why she ended up in her accident." Naruto confessed in that particular detail causing the two women to let that sink in and understand what happened with Shizune asking a bit more on that detail to her friend.

"I-I'm sorry to hear and I wish for a speedy recovery for her." Shizune said to the hazel eyed man.

"It's fine Shizune and I wish the same thing." He said before looking at Selina. "You know, with how you two are compassionate with the environment, I have a feeling you two might get along."

"I think you might be right. Anyways I think the event is going to start soon and I need to use the restroom for a moment. It's been nice chatting with you Naruto." Selina said as she walked off.

"Same to you." He quickly said as she gave him a little nod with Shizune following suit.

As the event started, with Naruto forgetting to check in due to chatting with Selina for too long, many individuals of both genders were called out one by one and were bidded in various amounts that were being put towards animal rights. From what he could tell, a lot of the people being bidded on will end up in the tabloids by the end of the week with who is dating whom. After a dozen or so bids, things started to pick up a bit more.

"Next, we'll be auctioning off a date with Gotham's most eligible bachelor, Mr. Bruce Wayne." The auctioning host said into his microphone as spotlights were circling the crowd to find the billionaire. "Now if Mr. Wayne would be so kind to step up or make his presence known."

At this, most of the crowd was murmuring on where Wayne was currently at. "Oh now, now. Don't be shy good sir, the women won't bite I'm sure."

Eventually the host was finally able to spot him when one of the spotlights finally found its target. "Ah, there he is."

Bruce was in the spotlight now and decided to wave to the attendees for the event as he made his way towards the stage. From where Naruto was standing, he could see many women of varying ages and appearances were closing up on the billionaire.

"Remember, we got a lot of animals to save so we'll start the bidding at $500." The host said before women started throwing out numbers left and right.

"Five hundred."

"Six hundred."

"We have $600. Do I hear seven?"

"$700."

"Eight."

"One Thousand."

Hearing the amounts piling up, the host couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh ho. Well, well. That's $1,000. Going once. Going twi-"

"Ten thousand dollars." A familiar voice called out as everyone gasped and turned towards the source. With Naruto he already knew who it was as he quickly found Selina in the spotlight not too far away with a smile on her face.

'Damn. She really wanted to make a spectacle out of herself and put a lot towards the cause.' The publisher thought as he started to laugh to himself.

"Th-Th-Do I hear any more bids?" The auctioning host said with a stutter but there were no responses. "Going once. Going twice. Then sold for $10,000 to uh….Ms. Selina Kyle."

Things quieted down as Bruce made his way towards Selina and Naruto decided to meet up with them.

"It's ah, a pleasure." Bruce said to the black haired beauty.

"Well thank you."

*Cough* The two turned towards the source to see Shizune coughing into her hand for their attention.

"Ah, Mr. Wayne. My secretary Shizune." said woman opened up the folder and started writing something inside of it before ripping it out. From what Naruto is seeing, it was a check probably for bidding for Bruce.

"How do you do?" He said as he was handed the check. "Please, its Bruce and I'm very flattered."

Selina folded her hands together as she kept her face straight after receiving the compliment. "Please understand that this is purely for the animals Mr. Wayne. So you're off the hook."

As she was walking away, Bruce ended up grabbing her wrist before speaking out. "But you're not."

"I beg your pardon."

"What he means Selina is that you bought him for a date." Naruto said drawing attention to him.

"Naruto? You know her?"

"Well somewhat. I met her a bit before the auction started and we chatted a little." Naruto said before continuing. "Wasn't there something you were going to say to Selina Bruce?"

When hearing this, the dark haired man ended up blushing a little which Naruto couldn't help but find this hilarious and kept his composure.

Oh this is such a very rare sight to see indeed.

"W-Well like Naruto said, you bought yourself a date. So I am honor bound, and delighted, to receive. And I should warn you, I am not a man who gives up easily."

"Believe me Selina, the man speaks the truth. He won't stop at nothing to see things through." Naruto said backing up his friend's claim.

After a few moments to think to herself, the raven haired woman responded. "Alright then, how about lunch? Tomorrow perhaps?"

"Sounds good to me." Bruce said before gunfire could be heard from outside.

"I wonder what's going on." Shizune said.

"Same here. What do you think Bruce?" Naruto asked before seeing his friend was missing. "Bruce? Huh, where'd he go?"

"Maybe he went to the auction host to turn in the check to verify the date payment." guessed the assistant with a shrug.

"We should probably get going. Shizune, mind hailing us a cab?" Selina asked her friend.

"Sure thing."

"Would you guys be fine hailing a cab?" Naruto asked getting the two to stop their actions.

"Why would you ask that?" The raven haired woman asked with a raised brow.

"Well with that gunfire outside, I'm guessing that some firefight is happening nearby and even when it's over, some roads are going to be blocked off for who knows how long thus causing the cab driver to charge you more on the fair."

After hearing his argument the two women couldn't help but agree on his reasoning.

"It seems sound….but what are you suggesting we do instead?"

"Well….maybe I could give you two a lift." He said to Selina.

"Maybe if you're offering and you seem to be a very nice guy then I'll possibly take up on your offer."

"Great, well let's head up front and get my car."

The small group of three went towards the entrance of the building as he hailed the valet to bring up his car. It wasn't long before his vehicle arrived since a lot of the festivity is still going on inside.

Once they climbed into the car, Naruto decided to ask Selina a question. "So mi ladies, where should I drop you two off?"

"You can drop us off at the Skyline Towers?" Shizune said before noticing the look on his face. "What….is it something I said?"

"No, not really. It's just that I actually live there."

"Really? Well that is interesting to know." Selina said with interest before Naruto drove them to their destination.

-Skyline Towers-

It took a while to get to their destination due to traffic but they made it to their residences. On the way over, the three had a pleasant conversation on various topics that they were passionate towards.

"So you're currently sponsoring a wildlife preservation outside of Gotham? Man that is quite a project you have there."

"Yes it is. With the population of mountain lions present on this city's borders I would feel comfortable to have them along with many other animals to live there so both them and us humans be safe from each other." Explained the raven haired beauty.

"Well I wish you the best of luck. And if Pam was with us right now I bet she would say the same thing." He said as they drove into the parking garage for the towers.

"You're too kind Naruto and I wish she was here with us now. I would've been happy to meet her."

"Me too." Shizune said in agreement as they were walking towards the elevator. Once inside, she pressed the '50' floor button causing Naruto to look at in curiousity.

'Wait, she is a….floor below me.' He mildly thought before looking back at Selina as some memories started to seep towards the forefront of his mind. Naruto soon imagined Selina in lesser clothing and….. her soaking wet… wait.

'Isn't she…..Oh shit!' Naruto yelled in his head as he realized on why Selina looked so damn familiar. 'I saw her naked last month! Oh fucking Kami this is going to be awkward now!'

"Well once again it's been nice meeting you Naruto and thanks for the ride." Selina said to him not knowing what was going on in his head.

*Cough* Well thank you Selina." He said while trying to get rid of the image of her wet and naked out of his head. "Oh and I was wondering if I could make a contribution to the wildlife preserve."

"N-Naruto, you don't have to do that." She tried to decline his offer but he waved his hand in response.

"Mah mah it's quite alright Selina. It's the least I can do to help you out." He said as he pulled out his checkbook and pen from his jacket's pocket. "Besides, I didn't participate in the auction and Pam would scold me if I didn't at least contribute to the event."

"W-Well if you insist." Selina said as she tried to avert his gaze. Shizune wasn't even better as she was compassionate in her work alongside her friend/boss and wasn't expecting any contributions for today. But with Naruto being a very successful publisher, he obviously had more wealth above average society especially with the rumored and known connections the silverette has.

"So then, how does $20,000 sound to you Ms. Kyle?" He said as he wrote the amount onto the check.

This caused the two women to feel as time suddenly stopped on what he just said before turning their gaze at him in shock.

'$2-20,000?/'I-Is he serious?' Were their respective thoughts before Selina voiced their response. "I-I don't know what to say."

"You're welcome by the way and I hope you'll go far with this to help the environment."

Quickly composing herself, she responded with a genuine smile. "I very much will Naruto and thank you. This will possibly help me finish solidifying the offer on the the preserve outside of Gotham."

The elevator stopped and opened up as they had reached Selina's and Shizune's designated floor. The two women stepped out and turned around to see Naruto one last time.

"I hope you have a good night Naruto and thank you very much on your donation." Shizune said with a bow before the elevator closed on him.

*Sigh* "Man this night was really interesting. I hope my contribution to her cause could make a difference."

Unknown to either side, Naruto had made a donation to Selina twice in both of their alternate personas.

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

It was appearing to be a pleasant day in Gotham as the sun was shining without a cloud in site despite the cold air hanging around the city. To Selina, it was pretty much a nice day for her to go out for her lunch date but some thoughts were still plaguing her mind. She was currently a dark purple blouse with a black skirt with a pair of one inch black heel shoes while brushing her hair in the mirror despite it being short.

"Aren't you a little excited for your date? I mean it's Bruce Wayne; tall, dark, and disgustingly rich." Shizune said to her friend as she was getting food out for Isis.

"I'd rather have it be with Batman." Admitted the secret cat burglar. "Oh Shizune, you should've seen him. He had the eyes of a lion."

"How would you know he has eyes of a lion? It would be hard to actually see them with that cowl of his." Shizune pointed out her friend's slight mistake.

*Chuckles* I guess you're right. I probably meant to say his 'gaze', not 'eyes'."

"And what about Naruto?"

"What about him?" Selina asked as the Uzumaki suddenly came into the conversation.

"Well he is very charming and cares much about the environment, probably as much as you do."

"But you forget Shizune, he's currently taken."

"And such a shame too, if he was available then I would try and snatch him up."

"Then you'll have to beat me first." Selina threatened in a jokingly manner.

"Or better yet, there's still that Nobody, still an odd name, you told me about."

Oh yes him. Ever since that Christmas night at the Gotham Clock Tower, there were times that Selina kept fantasizing about seeing the masked acrobat. With how he moved and reacted to the simplest things when he was performing his 'tricks'. He kept on doing things that made her stop breathing and her heart racing while even saving her precious Isis from certain death. All this made her want to see him even more to possibly have that little thrill again.

Not to mention of him practically giving her the Cat's Eyes Emeralds wasn't bad either. But alas, she hasn't been able to find the man ever since much to her disappointment.

*Ring Ring* *Ring Ring*

They heard the phone go off as Shizune was making her way towards it while cutting Selina off from her thoughts.

"But honestly Selina, at least Bruce Wayne is a good connection. We might be able to use him." The assistant said before picking up the phone. "Hello, Selina and Shizune residence."

*Knock Knock*

"That's probably him now." Selina said to herself as she made her way to her door. "She's probably right….but still though…..I wish it would've been better if it was Batman standing behind this door."

Once opening up the entrance to her loft, she was just expecting Bruce Wayne but it was a surprise to see Naruto there as well.

"N-Naruto, what are you doing here?"

"Oh I was coming back from seeing Pam at the hospital when I ran into Bruce when he entered the building."

"We chatted and I was quite surprised that you two are practically neighbors." said the billionaire.

"And why would you say that?" Selina questioned with the tilt of her head. "I know you live here in the towers Naruto from what you told us last night but you never told me which floor."

"To tell you the truth, I actually live right just above you two."

"Really? Well that's quite interesting to know. Also sorry Bruce, it's very nice to see you." Selina said as she went back to her lunch date who waved her off.

"It's quite alright Selina." Bruce said to her as he handed her a bouquet of flowers. "Here, these are for you."

"Why thank you." She replied as she took a whiff of the flowers. "Oh where are my manners. Please come in you two."

The two men entered the loft with Naruto closing the door.

"You are even more stunning than I imagined." Bruce said to the raven haired beauty which got Naruto to raise an eyebrow.

'That's an odd thing to say out of the blue.' He thought before turning his gaze towards the green eyed woman. 'Though I do have to admit, she is rather stunning.'

Before anything else could be said, Shizune came up to them seeming urgent. "Selina, it's your lawyer. He says that the preservation deal is off."

"What?!" Selina angrily said getting a shocked reaction from Naruto on Shizune's statement.

"Are you serious?"

"I don't know but I intend to find out." the woman said as she handed the flowers to Shizune before going over to the phone and picked it up.

"Martin, what happened?"

…..

"But that's ridiculous! You need to call him back and tell him I would want to speak with him!"

…..

"But, it has to be today. He can't Martin. He can't sell the land to Multigon since we had an agreement."

"What's going on Naruto? You seem to know what's happening." Bruce asked his friend with Shizune not too far from them.

"Selina was negotiating land for a wildlife preserve. I had thought that the money I gave her last night would've been enough." The former shinobi replied back.

"It was Naruto, but it seemed that Multigon had muscled their way through and paid extra to topple over what you gave us. I'm so sorry though." The assistant said apologetically.

"But what do you mean he won't take any of your calls?!" Selina called out getting all attention back towards her.

…..

"You need to go over there. Even if you have to kick the door down, I need that land for the mountain lions." Selina said before slamming the phone down on the receiver.

"Why does this have to happen now? We were so close." The raven haired woman muttered as she sat down on the couch while rubbing her head in frustration.

"I-I'm sorry but I'm afraid that I won't be good company."

"Is there anything I could do?" Bruce said in concern.

"Not if you could land me a meeting with the chairman of Multigon International." She replied with a strained laugh in the end.

Bruce thought for a moment before walking over to the phone and started punching in a phone number. "So what time is good for you?"

The two women stared at the man in surprise while Naruto couldn't help but chuckle a little on the display.

"Huh, I'm starting to like him after all." Selina said as Shizune put a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

-Multigon International-

Bruce was able to set up a meeting a few hours later once things died down. Selina, Bruce and Naruto went over to the corporate tower of Multigon International to find the bottom of this. The raven haired woman told the publisher he didn't have to come but he told them that this concerns him as well that it affects the environment very much and Pam wouldn't want this to happen at all. The three were currently inside the office of Mr. Stern, the chairman of Multigon, which was littered with animal heads, feeling a tad impatient as the man was chatting with them.

"...but honestly Wayne I wish there was something I could do for you three. But the deal was quite set." The chairman said to them as he played a little bit of what Naruto believed to be part of Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' on a piano bit on his alcohol counter.

Once the little sequence was done, part of the floor opened up to show a display for what Multigon was planning. A vacation/entertainment resort.

"You see, we are committed to build a major resort: golf course, tennis courts, a spa, a swimming pool, the works." Mr. Stern said getting Selina and Naruto to feel disgusted.

"But that's insane. It's in the middle of nowhere and it's worthless except for the wildlife."

"Not to mention for environmentalists with how many acres of trees are there." Naruto said adding to back up Selina's claim.

The chairman only had a smug smile as he shook his head at them. "But you don't see the developmental potential….And as for the animals, we'll take care of them…. one way or another."

With his piece done, he walked over to the door and ushered them out. "Now you excuse me, I'm all out of available time I could spare."

Selina just hotly laughed in response to that. "Oh you'll find plenty of time with me Mr. Stern. Before I'm through, every environmental group and animal rights activists breathing down your neck. They'll be looking down on you and your project so closely that you'll look like a bug in a kid's glass jar."

Selina soon left with Naruto in toe, who glared at the man as he left.

"Hope you have a nice day." Bruce said as he soon followed the two.

Once the three were gone, the chairman went back into his office and waited by a wall before it started to rise up from the ground to show a very fit, musclebound woman in a red bodysuit with black arm guards, sash and combat boots walking towards him. She had long, black hair that reached the middle of her back with two white streaks. Her green eyes were those of a killer while complimenting several scars on her face. The last detail on her person was a tattoo of a red bear paw print with claws on her bare right shoulder.

For anyone who doesn't know who this dangerous looking woman is. Well she is Red Claw, international terrorist and one of the most wanted throughout most of the world.

"I'm afraid that Selina Kyle is going to be trouble madam."

"We've come too far for our plans to be jeopardized by some environmentalist and fanatic." Red Claw said in a thick Russian accent. "Have someone keep an eye on Ms. Kyle. I want to know every action she is taking whether she is going to work or going out for meals. I don't even care if I have to know when she takes a shit. I want her followed."

With that said, she walked back into the hidden hallway as the hidden wall closed back up.

-Meanwhile, Outside-

"I'm afraid I wasn't that much help after all Selina." Bruce said as they walked out of the building.

"At least we know what their cover story is." She replied getting Naruto to nod.

"But something else is going on and I feel it's something big."

They were near the parking lot when Selina gained Bruce's attention.

"It's getting awfully late for lunch. Can we have a rain check on it…..please?" She hopefully asked which got Bruce to smile.

"Of course and besides, this was more important to you than just some lunch mind you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Maybe we could reschedule for tomorrow perhaps." He suggested to her.

"Sounds wonderful." She said to him before continuing. "It'll give me some time to help take care of business this evening."

"Now that I think about it, I think I have some business to attend to as well tonight." Wayne said in a tone that seemed he had an ulterior motive. Selina didn't pick it up but Naruto did. Being a shinobi, even being a retired one, for years would get him to pick up subtle things.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow Bruce. Same time?" She asked.

"Definitely. Until then." The dark haired man responded before making his way to his car. He was starting to plan things out for the evening like squeezing information from a mob boss or two about Red Claw and why 'he' was in Gotham.

"So Selina." Naruto said as the two neighbors were walking towards his car. "Need any help on the things you have going on tonight?"

"No, I think I'll be fine doing it on my own but thanks for the offer."

"That's fine. Besides, friends should help each other out when needed." He stated getting her to look at him questionably.

"You consider me your friend Naruto?"

"Yeah, I consider both you and Shizune my friends. I do what I can to help them out to the best of my capabilities. With how things are going on as of late, one would need their friends for support."

She felt touched by this and smiled at him. "Thank you. It means a lot to hear that."

"Your welcome." A thought then came to him as he pulled out his wallet which confused the environmentalist. The publisher then pulled out a pen and wrote something in it before handing it over to Selina.

"What's this?" She asked as she saw his business card.

"Turn it over and you'll see my cellular and home phone numbers. You might as well start knowing them just in case you want to contact me on anything."

She was glad to get this information as it would help her out on a later date. They went into his car and made their way back to the Skyline Towers to do their own agendas not knowing that they'll meet up again later.

-Later, Multigon International-

Dusk had fallen in Gotham as the cold breeze filled the air with remnants of snow on the various rooftops and streets below.

The sound of snow crunching permeated the air before it came to a stop as the person in question stared up towards the higher levels of the corporate building.

"Well Isis, time to get to work." Catwoman said to her pet around her neck as she lept towards one of the ledges.

It was quite a distance to reach but the cat burglar pulled out her leather whip and had it latch against one of the building's hanging designs so she wouldn't fall down. Once having it steady, Selina started to climb up the whip before getting on top of the stone work. From there, she trekked her climb towards the top of the corporate building so she can be able to reach her destination. As she drew closer, she saw a light shining through the office window from above realizing that the chairman was still in his office.

Lucky for her for when she reached it, Mr. Stern was just leaving for the night….Or so she thought.

"If Mr. Stern won't admit what's going on, then we'll have to find out for ourselves." Selina said to Isis as she got off of her master. The thief used one of her sharp claws to cut into the glass big enough for a human to slip through it. Once safely on the ground, she looked around to see if anything was amiss as per her training.

"All clear?" Her master called out.

"Meowr." Isis called out with a nod getting Catwoman to fall down to the office floor.

"I think I believe Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' will do the trick." Selina said as she came up to the alcohol counter and played the tune on the piano keys. Like before, the one resort display rose up from the ground.

"I better thank granny Kyle for the piano lessons when I get the chance." She muttered to herself as she kept on playing the song before the counter and the alcohol display started to move to reveal an intricate control panel with a safe on the bottom.

Once the safe was fully on display, it opened for some reason as it scared off Isis to hide behind her master.

"Outstanding." Selina said at her apparent luck that she wouldn't have to safe crack this one as she pulled out her camera to take photos of many documents.

Unknown to her, through one of the animal heads had a hidden camera that was recording live in the security feeds.

-Meanwhile-

"Despite our loss of arms, thanks to Batman's interference, we will be proceeding according to plan." Red Claw said in front of her men in a hidden room of the Multigon Corporate building. She was going to continue when the door opened showing Mr Stern walking in feeling embarrassed in possibly interrupting his boss' speech/lecture.

"Anyways….Tonight at 2300 hours, a train under military escort will pass through Gotham." The terrorist stated as a map of Gotham was shown on the wall. "It will be transporting a strain of viral plague that Interpol had confiscated from our Eastern laboratories. I cannot overemphasise the importance of the plague to our cause."

She soon walked towards one side of the map and pointed towards a certain area of the train route. "We'll hit the train outside of the city at this point and we'll-"

"Madam Claw!" One thug called out.

"Yes what is it?! Don't you see I'm doing a thing here!" The Russian called out.

"You need to see this." He said getting his boss to come on over to see Catwoman taking photos from the safe in Mr. Stern's office.

"Who is that?" The Multigon chairman asked.

"A cat at the end of its nine lives." Red Claw said as she pulled out a gun and slipped in a fresh magazine into it before heading out of the room to greet their 'guest'.

-Back with Catwoman-

Unknownst to her impending doom, Selina kept on taking photo after photo of various documents that would not only destroy Multigon's reputation and career but to also save the land she had wanted for the preserve.

"Meowr. Meowr." Isis called out to her master feeling impatient.

"Alright Isis, I just got the last of them. We'll head back home now." She said before pounding on the office doors altered the two that they must've been caught.

Acting quickly, Selina grabbed Isis and went into the air ducts in hopes of making their escape. It was tight but it was worth it to possibly get away from security that would possibly want to follow them in here. Of course the thief would've been fine with it more if it wasn't for a few cobwebs here and there.

"I think we are in over our heads." Selina said as Isis seemed to give her a dirty look. "Oh don't give me that look. You are in this as much as I do."

Isis didn't really respond as she rolled her eyes before a sound came into the air ducts. The two navigated for a bit before they saw a man with an assault rifle.

'That's not a security guard.' Selina thought as the two cats went through another duct to get away from the man. For extra measure, the thief pulled off a pouch on her and dumped its contents on the air ducts showing metallic tacts shaped like cats.

"Hah and Shizune said these wouldn't be useful." She said with a smirk before moving forward. They soon reached a dead end as they ended up seeing an elevator shaft.

"Well, only way out is up I guess." The thief said as she reached out and grabbed the metallic rope and started climbing up with Isis wrapped around her neck.

They eventually made it to the top of the elevator shaft and went through another air duct that lead towards the roof of the building. Once climbing out, the environmentalist looked around to find an exit strategy as she heard pounding on the rooftops door. Deciding to take a chance, she ran towards a random direction.

"Hang on Isis." Selina said as her cat responded by tightening her hold before the thief took a leap off of the rooftop.

Unknown to her, Red Claw came through the rooftop door with her lackies and saw where the cat burglar was heading towards and pulled out her miniature grenade launcher and fired.

Once barely latching onto a rooftop ledge she told Isis to get to safety before the roof exploded causing her to fall. Selina tried to latch onto something but she was thrown off too far away to grab ahold of anything. She screamed as her life started to flash before her eyes as she plummeted towards her doom before something or someone caught her.

"I hope I'm not too late." A male voice said to her as she looked towards the helmeted man who saved Isis on Christmas Night.

"I-It's you." Selina said in surprise.

"Have we met before. It seems you have, yet I haven't." Naruto said in his Nobody attire as he had his 'grappling scarf' swing them around a building with all it's stretchiness. It wasn't long before he willed his scarf to let go getting them to land on a random rooftop.

"We're safe now miss. You can let go now."

Selina didn't say anything as she kissed his helmet getting the disguised publisher to widen his eyes.

"That's for saving my cat." Catwoman said with a smile. "I would give you a proper kiss if you took off that helmet."

"Nope, not gonna happen." Naruto said as he crossed his arms in a comedic 'X' gesture before remembering her saying something before. "Wait, your cat?" He asked before feeling something brush against his leg. Looking down he saw a familiar black cat.

"Oh hey Little One, long time huh." Nobody said as he picked the feline up and started petting her, causing the cat to purr.

"That's my cat you're holding just so you know." The thief said getting to look towards her.

"Oh really, well then I hope you enjoyed the present I left ya."

"I did actually and I appreciated the gesture."

"You're welcome then." He said as he kept petting her before slowly coming to a stop. "Wait….how did you get up here?"

"Yeah….I'm thinking the same thing."

"That would be because of me." A male voice called out causing the two to look behind them to see Batman coming out from the shadows.

"Hello there. Nice evening we have here huh Batsy." Nobody said in a cheerful tone, which didn't get a reaction out of the Caped Crusader. "Oh lighten up will ya."

Once again, he was pretty silent before responding to the two of them. "I heard gunfire nearby and came to investigate. I found your cat when I landed and took her with me. You're welcome by the way.

"Occupational hazard I'm sure." Catwoman said with a smile. "Nice to meet you again Batman."

"Sooooo you two met before?" The masked acrobat asked as he got no response from that question. Isis soon got out of his arms and climbed on top of his head and sat down. "So Little One….do you know how they met?"

Isis responded by nodding her head.

"Mind telling me."

Her response was no.

"Pleeeeease with tuna on top."

Once again, no.

"You're no fun." Nobody said with a physical, comedic pout causing Catwoman to giggle at the display while Batman was not responsive.

"I'm going to be asking this politely: why were you two at Multigon International?" Batman sternly asked them.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Nobody replied back getting the caped crusader to glare at him.

"While I'm at it, who are you?"

"You don't know?…..Well actually I think you wouldn't know. Well I'm Nobody." Naruto said as he willed an object into his hand.

"My card."

Nobody tossed the card at the Batman, who dodged it easily, getting Catwoman to see the opportunity to close in and grab the costumed hero. With a judo toss, she was able to throw Batman off the side of the building.

"Cheese it!" The masked man yelled out as he grabbed Catwoman in a fireman's carry and jumped off the building with Isis wrapped around his neck. He willed the 'grappling scarf' to show up and latch onto one of the walls of a random building and swung around.

"Hey, let me go." She said as she tried to get off.

"Really….You want me to let you go this high up?"

"Oh….sorry."

"But did you really have to throw Batman off the rooftop."

"Well I saw a chance to leave and I ended up taking action."

"But throwing him off the building?"

"He had that grappling gun of his. He'll be fine."

"Gotcha." Nobody said as he willed his scarf to let go getting him to land on a random rooftop a good distance away from Batman.

"Thanks for the ride by the way." Catwoman said as she got off of the man with Isis following suit. "Along with saving both me and my cat on separate occasions.

"Your welcome and I'll see you around." The disguised Uzumaki said as he ran and jumped off the rooftop before going to god knows where leaving the thief and her cat behind.

-Selina's and Shizune's Loft-

Catwoman landed in a crouch on her patio as she opened the door to see her roommate waiting for her.

"So how did it go?" Shizune asked Selina from the couch as she was reading one of the books published from Spiral Publishing.

"Well it had it's highs and lows, but I did get pictures of what is going on with that Multigon resort site." Selina responded as she handed her assistant the camera.

"So what did you see exactly?"

"Apparently there is an abandoned military facility underground."

"Interesting."

"With what information I gathered, we are one step closer to saving those mountain lions."

Unknown to the two occupants, one of Red Claw's goons was on a rooftop some distance away and saw the scene in the loft with a pair of binoculars and a listening device.

"But question is Ms Kyle: Who will save you?"

-End Chapter-