A/N: This idea was swimming around in my head for a while. It's nice to get it out. Also, this is a new style for me...before this, I had never written a story in the present tense.
Title: Container No. 4
Rating: T
Word Count: 1,293
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I never will. I'd just screw up the storyline...
"Ma'am, are you okay?"
Her hand is shakily reaching for the rail of the staircase. She nods to the masked ANBU with a blank face.
"I'm fine, ANBU-san." The ANBU hesitantly begins to lead her up the stairs once more. The girl takes small, unsure steps. She is not herself. She has never been more frightened in her life. She closes her eyes, takes deep breaths, and tries to gain the confidence to continue up the staircase.
The ANBU asks her again if she is doing okay. She replies the same, takes another shaky step. Again she closes her eyes, but when she opens them again, they hold a determined look. One, two, three steps, pause. One deep breath, two deep breaths. Four, five, six steps, almost there.
She eventually reaches the top. The ANBU is waiting at her right, ready to lead her down the hall where she feels her life will surely end.
She is nervous. She is sad. She is angry. Torrents of emotions are swimming through her. She doesn't know which one to portray.
She is a young girl. Raised in the Hyuuga clan, but not bearing the prestigious clan's trademark pearly eyes. Instead, they are blue. A bright, cerulean, blue. Her hair is long and red. Because she is different from the majority of her family, she is the object of much bullying.
Though she is Hyuuga in blood, her Uzumaki genes are dominant. Though she is pushed down, she continues to stand tall. She is proud to be an Uzumaki.
The young girl is led down the hall by the ANBU. Their footsteps are echoing through the bare hallway and they reach the solid oak door at the end. Her fingers are twitching in anxiety and she is relieved with the ANBU allows her to open the door.
She takes deep breaths. She is not calming down. She reaches for the door handle and sees her hand shaking violently. That is when she realizes what emotion she unconsciously chose from the torrents: fear.
She gulps. The ANBU rests a comforting hand on her shoulder and the girl turns the handle of the door.
The door is swinging in slowly. She wishes it would go faster.
The door is open now. There is an old man sitting on the bed. His hair is a radiant blonde but is grey in several areas. He is wearing an orange yukata and holds a pendant in his hand. His smile is bittersweet.
"Hokage-sama." The ANBU says and bows before the old man. The man merely chuckles as he looks up from his hands.
"I am no longer Hokage, Cat. Please call me by my name." The man sets the pendant on his bedside table.
"Of course, Naruto-sama." The man is chuckling again.
The young girl analyzes the man. He is the Rokudaime?
He appears different than he is portrayed in the history book we studies from at the Academy, she thinks as she looks at the man curiously.
She comes back to reality as the door is slamming shut. Naruto sits on the bed and he pats the seat beside him. She hesitates, fear is coming back, but she walks over and sits anyways.
"I assume you have been informed why you have come here."
He speaks, she jumps. She is nodding hurriedly, averting her eyes.
"You are scared?"
She doesn't speak. He laughs slightly, looks up at he ceiling.
"Your name is Kushina?"
The girl nods again.
"Uzumaki Kushina...that was my mother's name..."
She is still silent. Seep breaths are all that can be heard from the girl.
"She, too, was a Jinjuuriki." He pauses before continuing. "I never thought Kenji-kun would name you after my mother. But I can see that it fits very well. Red hair, round face. But you have my blue eyes... And I'm not too sure about fiery temper...you are awfully quiet."
Silence reigns again. And then she is uttering the words that have been running through her mind all day long.
"Why me?"
It is a simple question. Nothing humorous in the depths of it. But he laughs. He laughs loud and long and the frustrated and angry emotions bubble within her chest and she cannot take much more. She is standing up, now. Fists balled in anger, mouth set into an emotionless line.
"There is nothing funny about this? Why do you laugh? Becoming a Jinchuuriki hides nothing humorous at all! Weren't you scared? Weren't you angry about being chosen for something you don't want to do? Tell me? Why do you laugh, so?"
In seconds his face is set into a serious look. He meets her eyes and narrows them slightly.
"I wasn't chosen for this. I didn't want to be a container for a destructive demon. But because of that bastard Madara fucking up my family, my father had no choice but to seal this damn fox into my gut. Otherwise, he would've stayed inside my mother. I was never CHOSEN." Anger flashes through his eyes and she is becoming scared for an entirely different reason. "Be lucky to have yourself a family CHILD. I never had one. I was hated by almost every villager in this village. It wasn't until I saved this village's ungrateful ass for the nth time and had everyone brought back from he dead that I was finally at peace." His killing intent is rising by the second. But then he sees the frightened look on her face and the tears streaming from her eyes and he stops.
An idiot, he calls himself. Stupid. Dimwit. Dobe. A monster.
He kneels on the ground in front of the crying girl. He wraps both arms around her and drag her into a hug. She is startled and her eyes widen but soon she is gripping onto his yukata and crying into it.
"I am scared, Jijj!" She exclaims in-between a sob.
"Shh, child. There is no need to be frightened." His arms are tightening around the girl protectively. "I chose you for this because you are strong. The blood of my clan runs strong through you. Promise me, your great grandfather, that you will be strong."
The girl hiccups and fists her hands tighter in the orange cotton. She is nodding into his neck frantically.
"Y-yes, Jiji!"
Silence reigns once again.
"...It seems I was wrong about your temper..." He chuckles. "Though you don't have an Uzumaki temper…you have a Hyuuga temper...almost always calm until you snap. I've been wrong side of Hinata's temper plenty of times to know what it looks like..."
He laughs lowly once again.
"My time is coming to an end, child. You must take my place as the fourth Kyuubi vessel." he says.
"I am scared." she whispers.
"At several points in my life, I felt scared, too. Scared for my life and scared for he life of my precious people.
"Before I begin the extraction and sealing, I have a couple things to pass down to you. Tell me, what is your dream?"
The young girl thinks.
"To become a strong kunoichi." she pauses. "And possibly become the second ever female Hokage."
"Do whatever you can to achieve these dreams, child. And if somebody to bring you down, keep trying to get where you want to be. But also, very important, make friends. Be sure they're someone you can really, really trust. All of my friends are gone now. Only their decedents remain.
"And lastly, never call an Akimichi fat. Bad things will happen if you do."
"I will take what you say to heart, Jiji."
"Good."
They hold on to each other for several more minutes before he releases the girl.
"Kushina-chan, are you ready to begin the sealing?"
"Hai, Jiji-san."
To clear things up:
1. The girl's name is Kushina
2. She is Naruto's great granddaughter.
3. She is an Uzumaki but she is raised in the Hyuuga clan because A. Naruto and Hinata got married and had kids, and their kids had kids, and their kids' kids had kids... So she's technically a Hyuuga. B. Her dad, Kenji (the grandson of Naruto), had the Byakugan (who got his eyes from his dad, who got his eyes from Hinata. Geddit?) but he died on a mission along with her mother so, since she was part Hyuuga, she was raised in the Hyuuga clan.
4. Naruto only blows up at her because of his bad past. He never had parents and Kushina doesn't know or remember that bit of information. She is angry because she doesn't want to be the holder of the Kyuubi. But she is frightened because she knows she doesn't have a choice.
I hope this isn't too confusing...
Don't forget to review and you get a coooooookkiiiiieeeeee!