Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
Italics: Kyuubi no Kitsune or Ichibi no Shukaku
The autumn forest around him was quiet.
His ornate kimono lay on the ground in a careless heap. Its silken, Indian orange color almost completely blended in with the dead leaves that littered the forest floor. The only thing that distinguished the kimono from the foliage around it was the metallic sheen of bright golden-yellow embroidery as it glinted in the morning sun. The kimono's owner was busy wading amid a stream, naked, but oblivious to the cold. Nine burning orange tails swayed about his form with a wild elegance, keeping the effects of the weather away from his body by the intense heat that each of them radiated. His matching fox ears, which were almost hidden by the bright yellow of his messy head of spikes, twitched in an effort to pick up any sound around him. Nothing; the impenetrable silence that resounded throughout the forest was too complete to be natural.
Suddenly, he froze. His azure eyes bled to crimson and narrowed as he picked up the faint suggestions of foreign scents on the wind. His territory had evidently been invaded.
The kitsune bared his sharpened teeth and let a distinctly inhuman growl escape from his throat, and the whisker-like markings on each of his cheeks become more pronounced. Quickly, he left the stream to don his kimono again. Now that it was on a body, the kimono was revealed to be a fine thing; and one that had obviously been made for royalty once upon a time ago. It was lined with black silk, and the back was decorated with crimson thread woven into the kanji for wind that turned into a spiral. Finally, the obi, which was the color of molten lava, blended with the kimono and made the kitsune look even more like an apparition of the sun.
He finished dressing and fell still again, deep in thought. It had been a long time since he had smelled the presence of humans—some several centuries, at least. Not since he had last been in Izumo as a human youngling himself. These humans smelt of power, and they smelled too clean to be peasants. The kitsune decided that they must be Imperial retainers or soldiers. But there was another, fleeting scent that these humans brought with them, and it put him on edge.
With a decided snort, he finally moved in the direction of his island's southern shore, where the humans had evidently made port. His gait was an easy but cautious lope, navigating around trees and over underbrush with confidence, but also with urgency. For added stealth, his tails dissolved into a trail of floating embers that faded into ash before they landed. His ears lay flush against his skull, as evidence of his displeasure. He did not like being taken at unawares.
When he was close enough to the shore to observe without being seen, he dropped into a crouch and edged his way forward to peer between some of the island's many ferns. There were two ships in total: one of them looked official, and the other—more like a raft than a ship—looked as though it was very hastily put together. As he watched, two important-looking humans disembarked from the official-looking ship and walked over to the raft to look it over.
"So, the criminals are definitely here, Uchiha." Shikamaru's voice was nonchalant and bored sounding, as usual, "And now they expect us to go hunting for them in all of this?" He gestured to the island and its thick population of trees and plants in disgust, "How troublesome…" Despite being one of the most revered retainers serving under the Empress Tsunade, Nara Shikamaru had to be the laziest person Uchiha Sasuke knew.
"Troublesome it may be, Nara, but the criminals are a threat to the Empire and must be eliminated. Besides, you're friend Akimichi was on duty when they escaped. If we don't catch them—"
"Yeah, yeah," Shikamaru cut him off, "Chouji will be banished at best, executed at worst. We'll find them, and I'll personally oversee their executions."
Sasuke had to smirk at Shikamaru's sense of loyalty. Akimichi Chouji was the only person Sasuke knew who could stir the famously lazy Shikamaru into action. But, loyalty aside, Shikamaru was not exaggerating when he spoke about the difficulty of finding the two escaped criminals in the jungle that stretched almost mockingly before him. It would take days, if not months, to search this island thoroughly. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, already annoyed at everything.
"Nara, tell the others to disembark and make camp. And bring Gaara to me."
"Hai." Shikamaru nodded and then left to do as he was commanded. Sasuke appreciated Shikamaru's complete lack of fuss. He wished all of his men were so easy to command— Gaara in particular.
Taken into Tsunade's care when he was an orphan abandoned out of fear by one of the more bloodthirsty clans, Gaara grew up to be an excellent soldier. He killed whomever he was told to without any compunction whatsoever, but he was also extremely unstable. Outside of the palace, Gaara was feared as a demon made incarnate. Not many could control him, or even wanted to; but, for whatever reason, Gaara had come to respect Sasuke and would willingly submit to his authority... for the moment.
The sound of quiet foot-fall alerted Sasuke to Gaara's presence. That was all that ever announced the other, as Gaara seldom spoke. Sasuke turned to face him, taking in the familiar pale green eyes ringed with dark circles due to self-imposed insomnia, the red hair, and the (what Sasuke always thought of as ironic) katakana for love right below his hairline on the left side of his forehead. The Uchiha crossed his arms over his armor and frowned at the other, "I brought you out here because we need your help finding the two criminals that escaped." He gestured to their abandoned raft, "As you see, they made it to this island and are somewhere in the jungle. You have an uncanny ability to track people, and we need your expertise. The sooner we find them, the better. Tell Hyuuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame to join you. In addition to supplementing your tracking skills, the four of you can cover more ground faster."
Gaara stared at him for a few moments and then nodded. He turned as if to go back towards the quickly developing camp site, but he froze and stared into the jungle directly to the left of them, "Something is here and watching us. I smell it." Then, before the Uchiha could even register his words, the redhead was off, leaving a small plume of sand in his wake.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and stared after his unstable subordinate for a moment before barking, "Shikamaru!" The subtle urgency of his voice carried, and was enough to put the whole camp site immediately on the defensive. Sasuke, himself, drew his katana in a rush of metal and waited for his strategist to join him.
The kitsune let out a quiet hiss and began to back away from the rapidly advancing redhead. This… creature… was the source of the unsettling scent he had caught before, and it was more disturbing to look upon than to smell. The thing looked and acted human, but it was a poor disguise. He felt a deep-rooted malevolence roll off of the thing in almost-crippling waves. Naruto's hackles rose and the markings on his cheeks darkened even more.
That is no human, kit, came the ill-tempered voice of the fox within him, but there was also an edge of concern that he had never heard before. It smells of home. Of the time of my birth. And of anger. It hunts us. You must run.
The kitsune did not have to be told twice. Not caring that he revealed his hiding spot, the kitsune leapt up with a snarl and ran back uphill the way he came. He had the advantage: after living on the island for centuries, he knew the landscape like the back of his hand. He would lose the creature easily among the trees and caves, and then he could figure out what to do about the invaders afterwards.
As he flew through the forest, he felt the creature in pursuit behind him along with the rest of the humans. However, unlike the humans it traveled with, the creature was completely undeterred by the thick undergrowth or the myriad trees that the kitsune weaved through and around. It gave chase with prudence, following the exact path the kitsune took; and it was gaining.
Snarling again in frustration, the kitsune suddenly diverted back to the stream he was bathing in earlier, but he was suddenly propelled face-first into the ground. The unnamed beast that hounded him had tackled him from behind and lay unmoving on top of the kitsune. The blonde snarled and growled and struggled fruitlessly under the dead weight of the creature.
Meanwhile, the redhead's face split into a crazed smile. His body was not his own, though. The Beast within practically purred its satisfaction as it used Gaara's body to nuzzle in between the blonde's shoulder blades, digging her claw-like nails into the smaller creature's arms. The scent of the other's blood drove the Beast into further dominance of the redhead's body. The ineffective shade that Gaara had become in his own mind heard the Beast speak using his mouth. The Beast's voice was venomous and raspy, as it grated on Gaara's throat, "Come out to play, Fox. I smell you there, even if I do not yet know you…"
Meanwhile, the blonde continued his furious struggle as his own inner-demon took over. The resulting surge in chakra was enough to finally remove the offending creature from the blonde's back, and the Kyuubi no Kitsune slowly rose to stand in his host's stead. Crimson eyes met hollow jade eyes and the demon fox grinned. When Kyuubi spoke, his voice was velvet, but sinister, "You are either over-confident or very foolish, Tanuki-san, to challenge me in my own territory…"
The Beast hissed maniacally at the kitsune's insult and surged forwards with a tangible intent to kill. Kyuubi did not react to the other's onslaught except to send his assailant flying off into the forest with only the barest movement of his arm. Instead of a fight, the kitsune's plan was to escape and find secure shelter. Kyuubi did not know enough about these intruders to feel confident in attacking them, and the kitsune was nothing if not cautious.
Using the Beast's short delay to his advantage, Kyuubi faded into a blur of action. Immediately, he raced up the nearest tree. He hoped the sudden change of terrain would hamper the creature long enough so that he could find a nearby cave to hide in. An explosion of chakra told him that the Beast had recovered and was giving chase. Kyuubi risked a glance over his shoulder and grinned as he saw the Beast struggling to climb, raving in her ire.
Shaking his head, Kyuubi refocused on his own progress. At last, he spotted the cave he was looking for and hastily redirected himself towards it. He was far enough ahead of the creature that the other could not see him enter. A small river wound its way through the cave, perfect for dispersing his scent; and despite the dampness, the cave was warm enough to rest in without the help of his tails, which would surely give him away. To further mask his presence, he gave control back over to the blonde. The kitsune's eyes turned back to their normal azure color, the markings on his cheeks faded until they were barely perceptible, and his fox ears turned into human ones. Grinning arrogantly, the kitsune walked deeper into the cave, proud of his (the Kyuubi's) brilliant escape strategy. This cave system, he knew, was intricate and far-reaching. It had many entrances located all over the island that he could easily take advantage of, but would take someone who was less familiar with the system ages to find and navigate.
As he walked he gradually became aware of the smell of cooking meat. He barely had time to register that such a thing couldn't be possible unless he himself cooked the meat, when he was abruptly tackled from behind. His head struck the cave floor with a jarring thud and he knew no more.