Lexxibabe: I was in a good mood so I took it out on Naruto.
Gaara: You…terrible person, I love it.
Lexxibabe: I just hope you all like it, and ya know, don't hoist me up for it.
Gaara: Lex doesn't own Naruto… because he's my bitch.
Naruto:
XxxxxxxX
Unconditional
Kyuubi is not completely bad. He is not some mindless demonic creature that roams the earth to destroy and devastate. He has feelings, insecurities, hopes, dreams, and regrets. He wants just like everything else, he hates, and loves, and fears. Why couldn't people understand this like Naruto could? Why couldn't they see that he was hurt and angry, sad and confused? He was lost that night, and now he was paying the price; he was stuck inside the body of a broken child. He was sealed inside of the child he broke. And the guilt was nearly unbearable.
What the nine-tailed fox daemon did was terrible and tragic; all those lives were lost in a rampage fueled by sorrow and loss. Kyuubi killed so many men, women, and children without thinking about what he was doing; they were trying to protect their families and loved ones. He respected them for that, it was the one thing that he failed to do. He couldn't save his baby brother from slaughter, a terrible game that a few humans dangerously played. He was struck with the raw rage and went berserk; he not only forged his fate in stone; but also that of a baby no older than a few hours.
When Kyuubi looks at the boy, he sees a china doll that has been resting on a shelf behind a glass case for many years. From afar you see its porcelain face, but the glare from the glass hides the cracks in its glaze, the dust that covers its hair, and the snags and tears in the toy's clothing. The smile that was drawn onto its red lips is as fake as the twinkle in its dull, chipped blue eyes. The fact that he is the reason that Naruto is suffering makes him regret terrorizing the village more than the imprisonment of his soul and destruction of his body.
He remembers the first time that Naruto was beaten, truly beaten. There has always been a sense of neglect hanging around the boy: the caretaker would "forget" to change or feed him that day, he wouldn't be given proper clothing or talked to, he would be handled a little rougher than was necessary and punished a little harsher than needed but nothing overly bad happened for a few years.
It was October 10th, Naruto's fourth birthday. The headmistress at Konoha Orphanage decided that the blonde boy could "properly function and take care of himself, so there is no need to keep the brat, when his bed could be put too much better use." So he was on his own, the Third used a bit of money (from the government, not that anyone needed to know that) to pay for the rent of a dingy apartment in a shady part of town until Naruto could be paid for going on ninja missions. He had nothing but the clothes on his back and an empty flour sack that he used as a blanket.
It was dark outside, around 10:15 pm, and the streets where silent with energy. You could see no one walking down the grimy streets but felt their presence in the shadows of the disgusting allies overflowing with trash and god knew what. The little boy was walking back to his "home" that he moved into earlier that morning when he felt the darkness move. 'That's funny, last time I checked the night couldn't walk…'The fox thought to himself, that's when he realized that it wasn't the black gloom that shifted, but several dark figures that stepped towards the small one. Upon further investigation, Kyuubi discovered that his host was completely surrounded by burly, drunken men that seemed to have killer intent radiating out of their pores.
The nine tailed fox could feel the dread in his prison guard's fluid eyes, the kid didn't understand what was happening or why. The kit's emotions where everywhere, it hurt his guest's head just trying to decipher it; there was fear, confusion, irritation, but mostly acceptance. Naruto didn't like it, but he knew that he was going to get hurt; he was going to feel pain (most likely a lot of it before sunrise.) And did he ever.
"Monster!"
"Murderer!"
"Go die, you little fucker!"
"Nobody wants you; you're just a no good, dirty, rotten animal!"
"I hate you! Hell, all of Konoha hates your guts!"
"Everyone is just waiting for you to die!"
"Waiting for you to pay for your sins!"
"Waiting for you to suffer!"
The men yelled at toddler as they struck him repeatedly with their fists, broken beer bottles, splintered wood, pipes and pretty much anything else they could find in the dump they called a neighborhood. They hit him over and over until their arms were sore and their thirst for revenge was quenched. It was about an hour and a half before the crowd of fifteen men or so left, leaving a bloodied and beaten youngster defeated and barely conscious in the street.
This was the moment when he realized how incredibly strong Naruto was, how determined and brave he was. The boy hadn't made a whimper or grunt the whole time. He could count every year he lived on one hand and still had a finger to spare, and still he just picked himself up and limped to his place of residence where when washed the dried blood and dirt off his whiskered cheeks and bandaged his disinfected wounds. He did all of this before curling up in the corner with his little sack as a blanket and drifting off to a dreamless sleep. The daemon pondered the strength that his captor held; he was so young, yet he didn't cry or whine about injustices, but just got up and brushed himself off before continuing on his way.
He will never forget the first time, or the second, or the third, or the tenth, or the fiftieth, or the two hundredth time. He wouldn't forget any one of them, and he would remember every time that his Kit got hurt because of his selfishness. The shame tore into his soul every time a new scar was acquired on his account. Maybe it was this guilt that helped Kyuubi to connect with Naruto, or maybe it was the power that they held, or maybe it was both; but eventually Kyuubi could start to communicate with his little blonde.
'Hey Kit.'
'Hey, Kyu.'
'You haven't talked to me in such a long time…It's been, like, seven whole hours!'
'Seriously?'
'Heh, so anyways… when are you going to stop holding back and whoop that duck-ass haired kid's skinny butt?'
'You and I both know that if just came and beat him out of the blue that a.) I'd ruin his self-confidence and esteem, the last thing we need is an ever more depressed, emo Uchiha, b.) Everyone would get suspicious and become afraid, and possibly more hateful and violent. I can barely get the shops to sell me these ugly orange things and I'm lucky to eat instant ramen for a meal every other day, and c.)It would probably piss off everyone who actually likes the dick.'
'Fine, but it's so degrading. Just once I want to be able to cause him some pain… instead of the other way around.'
'The pain isn't that bad, and you always heal me before I even have a chance to notice it.'
"But still…'
They had gotten close in the past years that they had spent together. In the beginning Kyuubi hated Naruto, he only saw the blonde as a prison cell that walked, talked, and kept making him work to heal the kid's injuries (that he now accepted were completely his fault.) But Naruto never hated him back; he felt sorry for Kyuubi and wished to help the tortured beast. He was originally in a cage within the stomach of Uzumaki Naruto. When the human found out about the fox within him, he started to visit the poor creature and try talking to him. In the beginning, Kyuubi snapped and growled at him, but after a while he started to grow on him. Soon he was no longer in a cage but a hotel like room. The room continued to evolve as they became closer, he got a television that was connected to Naruto's vision and a radio that was allowed Kyuubi to hear what Naruto heard. He got more comfortable bedding, wonderful food, and access to his new friend's memories, and the ability to contact the blonde instead of the other way around.
He was blessed to have such an understanding and forgiving host; he was never scolded or questioned about his actions, but accepted whole heartedly. He realized that he could have ended up like his older brother, sealed inside Gaara, who feared him and ended up making his brother's life hell. He didn't protect and serve the boy because he had to in order to maintain his vessel to continue existing some half -life that he was given, he did it because he cared about the boy. He trusted, respected, and possibly- no, absolutely- loved this boy. And deep down, he knew that that boy loved him back. He wondered if the village didn't despise him so much, would the boy still feel this strongly towards him. Because he would have other loved ones to care for, not just the monster that killed his family and ruined his life.
Kyuubi stopped thinking those thoughts as he remembered Kit's warm words: 'You are a beautiful fox with nine powerful tails. You are smart, kind, and everything that is good in this world. You are special and you didn't mean to do anything wrong, you don't deserve this prejudice against you, especially from yourself. So I don't want you to think like that again.'
Someday he would take Naruto away from all this hate, pain, and cruelty and they would go and live somewhere far away from his persecutors forever, where he could run around outside of the Kit and they could be together in a world of their own mutual happiness. He just had to wait a little longer. They had forever, seeing as he was a daemon and refused to die under any circumstances and the same went double for Naruto. They just had to have patience.
XxxxxxxX
Lexxibabe: I hope you liked it.
Gaara: Please review this…thing. It helps her with whatever it is she spends time doing; I honestly have no idea what she occupies her time with. She's a strange girl.
Lexxibabe: …It would be helpful. Thanks.