Title: The Fox and the Hound

Rating: K

Synopsis: Naruto and Kurama are out playing a fun game of tag when they run into Kiba and his little dog friend, Akamaru.

Naruto pushed his little boy legs as fast as they could go, laughing breathlessly as he chased after his pet fox, Kurama. They had settled on a game of tag today, and Naruto was currently trying to catch his mischievous little friend, though it proved to be a challenge because, as Naruto knew well by now, Kurama was fast. And he had a penchant for taking a lot of sharp twists and turns, which proved successful in tripping the boy up and further distancing him from the fox. That and he also had to focus on dodging the other villagers that happened to be walking down the street. Naruto was going to need one of his very special tricks to catch the elusive creature.

Feeling that he was quickly running out of breath, the muscles in his legs starting to burn with exertion, he slipped into a side alley he knew well while Kurama was facing forward, focused on his task of keeping well away from the 5 year old little blond boy. Leaping over trashcans and various other objects in his path, he ran as fast as he could, planning to come out of the alleyway just as Kurama ran passed on the other side. This was not a move he hadn't used before, so he wasn't all that sure it was going to work, but he had to try something. Blindly chasing after a fox with the intent to catch it was never a good idea, and proved to be more than a little tiring.

Seeing the end of the alley just ahead, Naruto picked up the pace, calling up the last of his energy and plowing ahead full-force. Bursting out of the alley into the lively village street, he turned in the direction he knew Kurama would be coming from. Unfortunately, Naruto, as usual, wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, and he ran head first into the body of another child his age, knocking them both over. Naruto fell flat on his back, knocking whatever breath he had left from his lungs, and he lie there gasping for air for a second before painfully pushing himself up into a sitting position.

The other child he'd stated was, as previously stated, a boy of around Naruto's age. He had a mop of thick, unruly brown hair, which was only visible because the hood of the jacket he was wearing seemed to have fallen off when the boys fell. He also wore dark pants that fell to about mid-calf and blue sandals. His face, which was currently twisted into a grimace, had twin triangle-like marks on both cheeks, and Naruto could see he had exceptionally sharp canines. A small, white puppy with large, floppy brown ears was standing by the fallen boy, barking like mad.

"Hey, why don't you watch where you're going?!" the boy spat angrily at Naruto, surprising the boy with his vehemence.

"Ehhh, well, sorry about that," Naruto mumbled, scratching his cheek with an index finger and looking at the ground. "I was just trying to catch my pet fox."

The boy looked surprised. "You have a pet fox?"

Naruto raised his eyes to the boy and nodded. "Yeah, his name is Kurama, and I've had him for as long as I can remember. Oh, and my name's Naruto, by the way! Naruto Namikaze!" Naruto said with a wide grin.

"K-Kiba. Kiba Inuzuka," Kiba blinked, taken aback.

It was at that point that Kurama ran up to the pair, circling Naruto anxiously, apparently worried for the boy and checking for possible injuries. Naruto laughed and petted Kurama before pushing himself to his feet.

"I'm fine, Kurama. Just a bit dirty, that's all," Naruto reassured the fox, dusting his clothes off for emphasis. He turned to Kiba and stretched out a hand to help the boy up, shooting him another grin. "Sorry again for knocking you over. I didn't mean it."

Kiba took Naruto's hand and pulled himself to his feet, patting the dirt off of his own clothes. The puppy, which still hadn't left Kiba's side, was now looking curiously at Kurama, yipping excitedly at the newcomer. Kurama puffed up his fur a little in warning, his eyes narrowing a little at the dog. Obviously, Kurama didn't much care for noisy little pups. Or anyone, for that matter, that wasn't Naruto. Even Naruto's parents had trouble dealing with the rambunctious fox sometimes.

"Hey, is that your dog?" Naruto asked, leaning over to peer at the still barking puppy.

"Yeah, this is Akamaru," Kiba said, leaning over to pick Akamaru up and place him in his jacket, which was zipped up to his chest. Akamaru, seemingly content with his new perch, finally calmed down and stopped barking.

Naruto chuckled at the sight, reaching out to scratch the dog behind one of his big floppy ears. "He's cute," Naruto said, smiling as the dog yipped happily at the touch.

"Yeah, he's great. Your pet fox isn't so bad, either. Kurama, right?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, we always play tag and stuff! He doesn't seem to like most people, though," Naruto said, leaning over to pat said fox on the head.

"Oh, really? Akamaru likes everybody," Kiba replied, reaching a hand up to pet the dog, to which the dog responded with another happy yip. "It's cool that you have a pet fox, though. I've never seen one before."

"Really?" Naruto asked, looking up at the dog boy. "He's really cool once he gets to know you. And he's great at games like tag and stuff. That's what we were playing when I, you know, ran into you," Naruto said with a guilty chuckle. Then, an idea popped into Naruto's head. "Hey, you wanna play with us?"

Kiba looked shocked. "You want to play? What game?"

"Sure! We can play…." Naruto thought for a moment, crossing his arms in concentration. "We can play….hide and seek!"

Kiba seemed to think it over for a minute, looking down at his friend Akamaru for confirmation. Akamaru only gave a loud yip in response, seemingly excited at the idea of making some new friends.

"Sure, we'll play," Kiba said, a corner of his mouth tilting up in a grin.

"Cool! You guys hide, and I'll count to 50!"

Naruto turned around and pressed up against the wall of a building, covering his eyes as he counted aloud to 50.


Naruto burst through the doors of his home, Kurama trailing close behind him.

"I'm back!" Naruto shouted out to his parents.

Minato, Naruto's dad and the spitting image of Naruto himself, stepped out of the kitchen, smiling warmly at his son.

"Hey, son. Did you have fun playing with Kurama today?"

"Yup, I sure did," Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "I even made a new friend!"

At this, Kushina, Naruto's mother, came down the stairs into the wide living room. "Hey, sweetie! How was your day?"

"Naruto made a new friend," Minato answered for him.

"Really! Who?" Kushina asked her son.

"His name's Kiba and he's really cool! And he has a cute little puppy named Akamaru! I kinda accidentally ran into him when we met, but he wasn't too mad about it. And then we played tag! Even Kurama seemed to think Kiba was kinda cool after a while, though he doesn't like Akamaru too much, because he makes too much noise, and Kurama doesn't like that."

Kushina and Minato laughed at the little boy's ramblings, and Minato sent a kind smile towards his son. "That sounds like a lot of fun, Naruto. Why don't you go and get cleaned up for dinner? It's just about ready."

Naruto's stomach growled loudly at that, and Naruto ran up the stairs towards the bathroom where he went to work cleaning himself off for dinner. He couldn't wait to stuff his face with his father's delicious food!


I LIIIIIIIIIVE. *Dodges produce.*

NOW BEFORE ANY OF YOU SAY ANYTHING, no, I haven't given up on Dangerous Revelations or Problem Child. I know I haven't updated either of them in forever and I'M SO SORRY. x.x I know, I'm a terrible person, I let my muse die on me and I couldn't get it back. But hopefully now that my muse is back (and mercilessly poking me repeatedly until I get my ideas written) I'll be able to finish up both of those fics and give y'all some new ones. :) I have some fics uploaded to my Tumblr (the link to which I now have on my profile) that I might upload on here. They're all just one-shots, so I'm not sure. :/ There's two for Once Upon a Time, one for Teen Wolf, and then this one. If y'all want me to upload them here, tell me in the reviews.

That's it for now. ^-^ Tell me what you think about this, and remember that requests are always welcome! :)