Some quick translations:
itokuzu = fluff
nanashi = no name
byakko = white fox//spirit fox
Anything else, like 'dobe' or 'bunshin no jutsu' or 'chûnin' or anything of the sort, I'm under the impression you already know. If you don't, though, you're more than welcome to contact me. Or us. We both should know.
I came up with this after I finished writing Star Song. I was thinking about continuing it, started to write something, and ended up with this. Something completely different from Star Song.
*
As far as Naruto was concerned, curiosity didn't kill anything except maybe a couple of hours. It was around noontime and the blonde was crouched at the foot of a pond, trying to pet one of the koi that came too close to his hand. They always shied away right before his fingers could brush their shiny scales, though, so he always ended up having to start all over again.
"Hey."
Naruto started, scaring the fish away. He was concentrating so hard on trying to pet the elusive creatures that he didn't even notice Iruka walking up behind him. Embarrassed, he looked up.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei," he greeted, smiling sheepishly. "What's up?"
"If you catch me one of those fish, I'll buy you ramen.."
The chûnin was cut off when Naruto, not bothering to shed any of his clothing, dove right into the water.
"..for lunch." He laughed. "Oi, Naruto! I was kidding! Quit scaring the fish!"
Naruto surfaced, a put upon look gracing his features. His spikes drooped a little, weighed down by the water.
There was a squirming, rather pissed off looking fish in his hands.
"Cute, Iruka-sensei, real cute," Naruto grumbled, preparing to toss the fish back into the waist deep water. It smacked him on the nose with its tail. Iruka chuckled again, crouching by the edge of the water. "Does this mean you're not going to be buying me any ramen?"
"Nah. I'm low on cash right now."
Iruka, despite all his skills, could not dodge the koi to his face. The poor, abused fish flailed a little before dropping back into the water and Iruka laughed good-naturedly, wiping the droplets from his eyes.
"I guess I deserved that, ne? Come here, I was kidding. I'll buy you some ramen."
Insomnia Productions presents..
Byakko
Chapter One: Itokuzu
by Clara (one of the insomniacs)
An hour after his little encounter with Iruka and their stop to ramen shop, Naruto found himself sitting on his favorite swing. The school yard, of course, was empty, and by all means he shouldn't have been there either, but there wasn't much that could stop Naruto when he put his mind to something. As it was, he didn't want to be around the adults and their cynical stares, and therefore took refuge into the yard of the school.
He could have been training, in fact, he should have been training since there was going to be a mission the next day, but he couldn't quite bring himself to. The day was too lethargic—temperature just warm enough to make even the squirrels bouncing from branch to branch sluggish. This was the good time to go swimming in a nice, cool lake (though he had already had a taste of that), or taking a nap. He would just have to train harder and longer, later.
He sighed happily, patting his full stomach. Yes, today was definitely a day for laziness. Work should be outlawed on days like these.
A small whimper, though, interrupted his peace. He jerked in surprise, disrupting the precious balance he had on the swing and tumbling off, catching his legs on the plank. He yelped and quickly untangled himself, one hand going up to clutch his nose.
"What the HELL was that?!"
There was another whimper in response to his yell and Naruto looked around, eyes slitted in concentration. There was a puffy tail sticking out from behind the trunk of the tree his swing was tied to.
"Ne?" Naruto pushed himself to his feet, slowly and silently walking over to the tree. Whatever was behind it didn't notice him and continued to whimper.
Behind the tree was a baby fox, nudging an older, and what appeared to be dead, fox. The kit looked as if it would be pure white, if it wasn't for the blood matting its fur.
"Oh, jeez," Naruto hissed, crouching beside the foxes. The live one started and immediately scampered away from him, disappearing as he reached over to check the larger fox for a pulse. Not to his surprise, he found none. But it was warm to his touch, meaning that it had been killed recently.
The condition of the dead fox was awful. Whatever had gotten to it seemed to have been extremely brutal, what with all the wounds on the poor fox's body. What disturbed Naruto even more, though, was that the fox appeared to have been killed by a human.
"You poor thing." With pained eyes, Naruto gently lifted up the body. Blood fell from the mouth of the fox in a steady stream, splashing onto the boy's clothing. He ignored it though, instead walking back to the entrance of the school and towards his home.
He didn't notice the baby fox limping after him. He had thought it long gone.
*
Naruto buried the poor fox near the entrance of his house and left a sprig on top of the small mound. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about traditional burial techniques, so all he could do was wish that the fox had a safe journey to the afterlife. He even went so far to say a brief prayer for it.
To his surprise, when he stood from his kneeled position, the baby fox that had been by the older fox was sitting behind him. It had its left foreleg lifted from the ground, as if it were too painful for it to put down.
"Oi, fox. You followed me home, didn't you?"
The fox stared at him with an expression he couldn't read. It didn't look angry or frightened.. it seemed as if the creature was studying him. He shifted uncomfortably. There was always something disturbingly intelligent about foxes.
"Um.. are you hungry? Tired?" He took a wary step forward, but the fox hardly even blinked. "Hey! You're hurt! C'mere.."
Gently, so as not to startle the kit, he picked it up. To his surprise it didn't protest in anyway and in fact pressed its head against Naruto's chest.
"You're an awful trustworthy thing," Naruto said, smiling slightly. "Hey! I'll make you some ramen! Man, I don't know if you've had any ramen before or not, but it's my favorite!"
As Naruto walked back into his house, cradling the baby fox, he could have sworn he heard a near silent, "thank you."
*
Sleep time was definitely the best time, Naruto decided, except when it was wake-up time. What woke him up, however, wasn't his internal clock. It was a light pressure on his chest, as if something small were placed on top of it. He groaned and opened his eyes, greeted by the small white fox sitting on top of him. He had bathed it last night, removing all the blood and dirt stains, and wrapped up all his wounds. This resulted in the little fox looking like a beat up koosh ball.
He smiled at the fox.
The fox smiled back.
..
"..I'm hungry, Mister."
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Now, waking up to a talking fox was not something that happened every day for Naruto. Hell, he had never met a fox who could talk until this point. So, of course, he was a little bit surprised. Okay, he was so surprised he was practically climbing up the wall. The fox, graceful as it was, looked as if it were never moved from Naruto's chest and was sitting on top of his bed as if it were there in the first place.
"Wh.. what the HELL?!"
"I said, I'm hungry, Mister," the fox repeated, cocking its head to the side. "And, since I'm not capable of using your human appliances, I was wondering if you would be so kind to make me a meal."
Naruto just stared at the fox as if it had grown an extra head. There it was, sitting on top of his blanket, and chatting away as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"This.. this must be a dream," Naruto stammered unconvincingly. "M.. maybe if I pinch myself.." He tried. "OW!"
The fox bowed its head slightly, looking as amused as a fox could. "You're not asleep, Mister.."
Naruto stared for a long time. Of course, he should have asked other questions, such as 'can all foxes talk?' or something of the sort, but the only thing that came to his mind was..
"I gotta show you to Sasuke!"
"But I'm hungry!" The sentence was ignored as Naruto charged out of his house, not bothering to change from his pajamas or put on his shoes. The fox squirmed uncomfortably in his arms, then yelped and dug his claws into the boy's shirt. He decided to take a shortcut by rooftop.
"Hey! Foxes aren't meant to be this high!" the fox cried, then tucked its face against Naruto's neck. Naruto ignored it, leaping soundlessly against the roof that was next to Sasuke's bedroom window. He pounded on it with his free hand, the other one still supporting the fox.
"OI! SASUKE! WAKE UP!"
The dark haired genin indeed woke up, but only to open his window and smack Naruto in the nose with a flying shoe. Then he shut his window again. Naruto, off balance, nearly toppled off the roof. However, Sasuke seemed to have had a change of heart and opened the window again, grabbing the blonde's hand and dragging him inside his room. The dark haired boy glared with all the animosity he could muster up at three in the morning, which was a rather lot.
"Dobe," Sasuke growled, reaching up to scrub one of his eyes with his fist, "what the HELL are you doing here?"
"You hit me on my nose!" Naruto yowled, holding his offended appendage with his free hand.
"This is what happens when you come pounding on people's windows when they're fast asleep," Sasuke grumbled. "Now, what the fuck is so important that you had to wake me up for?"
"THIS!" Naruto cried, triumphantly brandishing the fox at Sasuke.
"..Let me get this straight," Sasuke said, closing his eyes and reaching up to put his chin in his hand. "You.. woke me up.. at three in the bloody morning.. to show me a fox?!"
"Not just any fox!" Naruto continued, undaunted. "This is a TALKING fox!"
. . .
"Naruto.."
"Nono, wait! Hear me out! Or rather, hear it out!" Naruto said quickly. He would be flapping his arms, if they were free. "Come on, fox, say something!"
"..I'm hungry."
"I'll feed you later!" Naruto grumbled.
"How come you're speaking all funny-like?"
Before Naruto could puzzle over that comment he noticed Sasuke staring at him, mouth opening and closing like a deranged fish.
"Sasuke?"
"N-Naruto? Can you understand the fox?"
"Duh, stupid, why ELSE would you think I'd come running into your room this bloody early in the morning to show you a fox?" Truthfully, the blonde was feeling faintly uneasy. In all the years he had known Sasuke, never once had he heard the other boy stutter.
"You're not just doing this to play a joke on me, right?"
"No! He really CAN talk! Didn't you hear him?"
"Naruto.." Sasuke turned around, taking a deep breath. He walked back over to his bed and sat heavily down on it, looking at his feet for a long moment before he glanced back up at Naruto. His eyes were unreadable.
"Naruto, I can't understand it."
"..what? What's there to understand? I mean.."
"No," he cut the other boy off, and briefly a pained expression flit across his face. He knew Naruto wasn't going to take this well. "I can't understand the fox. To me, it sounds like it's yipping. And when you answer it back.." He opened his eyes again, needing to see Naruto's face. Understanding was slowing begin to seep on Naruto's features.
"..you're yipping too."
There was a long silence, then Naruto sat down hard. It was as if his legs just collapsed out from underneath him. They stared at each other for a long time, blue colliding with black like a freight train.
"It's because I'm the.."
Sasuke nodded slightly and looked at the fox. It was looking up at Naruto worriedly.
What puzzled Sasuke was that he believed Naruto. Perhaps it was because he had known the boy long enough to know when he was lying or not, or perhaps it was because Naruto read like an open book, but Sasuke knew that Naruto really did understand the fox. Call it a gut feeling.
Naruto closed his eyes, taking a deep, hitched breath. It almost sounded as if he were going to start crying. Sasuke's heart clenched and he slid off the bed, crouching by the other boy.
"Oi, Naruto.."
Naruto's eyes opened and he smiled at Sasuke. It was the kind of smile he always got when he was confident over something, or trying to look confident. The darker haired boy grimaced, though. He was growing to hate that smile.
"Let's just keep this between you and me, ne, Sasuke?"
Sasuke slowly nodded, then reached over and scratched the top of the fox's head. It cooed at him, leaning against his fingers.
I promise, Naruto, no matter what happens, I will never look at you the way the other people look at you.
Naruto's attention was brought back to the fox, and he smiled fondly. "So, what do you think I should name him?"
Sasuke looked down at the fox, then smirked a little. "Poofball."
Naruto snorted and socked Sasuke's knee. "Don't be stupid. And he's too cute for that. Think of something else."
"Why'm I the one who has to think of it? Besides, what if it already has a name?"
"..shut up." Looking faintly embarrassed, Naruto looked back down at the fox. "Hey. Do you have a name?"
"No. Mama died before she could properly name me."
Naruto winced, then looked at Sasuke. "It doesn't have a name."
"No name. Name it.. Nanashi."
The blonde nodded, then smiled down at the fox. "Oi. How does 'Nanashi' sound?"
"It works," the fox responded quietly, tucking its head against the crook of his arm.
"Wait, one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
"I'M A BOY, DAMNIT!" Offended, the fox bit where he had been previously resting his head. "Can't you tell?!"
"OW!"
"Naruto! What did you say to him?"
"You knew it was a guy?!"
"Can't you tell by his features?"
"HE LOOKS LIKE A BIG FLUFF BALL TO ME—! OW! STOP BITING!"
And the night went on.
*
"Oi."
Ino jumped, scattering the some of the salted peanuts she had been eating all over the ground. She looked up and glared dangerously at Shikamaru who, of course, took a half step back. He knew his partner's temper better than anyone, since he was always the one to get on the wrong side of it.
"What do you want?"
"Ehhhh.." Shikamaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye, pulling a face. "I just wanted to see if you wanted some company, but if you're going to be so pissy.."
"Oh, cut the dramatics and just sit down," Ino grumbled. She, truth be told, wasn't up for arguing with him today. There was too much on her mind.
"Have you seen Naruto lately?"
Like Naruto, for example. It seemed as if the 'dobe' was going from the most unpopular to the most popular. He was actually starting to make a name for himself.
"No. Why?"
"Well, it could be just a rumor, but I hear he's bein' followed around by a fox," Shikamaru drawled. "It's got the adults all in an uproar."
"Everything having to do with Naruto gets the adults in an uproar," Ino grumbled, picking at the nuts until she found the saltiest one. She didn't know why she was eating them, since peanuts were fattening and, well, there was SALT on them, but she had to let herself have some guilty pleasures sometimes. She threw one that had no salt on it away from her, and was more than a little surprised when what appeared to be a ball of white fur went tumbling after it. It pounced the nut, then munched it loudly and cheerfully.
"Eh?" Ino watched the puffball come closer, stopping every so often to crunch on Ino's lost snack. "Ah! It's so cute!"
"Nanashi! Get back here!"
Ino and Shikamaru looked up from the creature, not surprised to see Naruto bounding towards them. Or, more precisely, the little thing eating the peanuts.
"Oi! Itokuzu!" Naruto growled, pouncing it. He lifted the poor thing up, and from that angle the two sitting on the step got to see that the puffball was actually just a tiny fox. Naruto snarled at the baby, almost sounding like a fox himself. The fox snarled back, squirming towards the nuts he had missed.
Shikamaru and Ino blinked, staring with faint bemusement as Naruto stomped away (not bothering to greet them, how terribly rude), still growling at the pint-sized critter.
"Ne.. Naruto is.." Shikamaru started, still watching the blonde clomp away.
"..weird?" Ino finished, lifting both her perfect eyebrows.
Both nodded sagely.
"Hey. Wanna get some tea?" Shikamaru asked, the thoughts of Naruto blowing away with the gust of refreshing wind.
Ino looked down at her now empty hands, thirst making her mouth dry and throat itchy. "Are you paying?" Despite her lofty tone, she knew she would end up going with him even if he said he wasn't. It was hot and she had just consumed a whole lot of salt.
"Why not. My treat."
Ino pushed herself to her feet, smiling broadly. "Do you even need to ask?"
"With you, yeah. You're unpredictable."
"Part of my charm. But you're paying, so I guess I'll go with you. Don't think this is going to become an every day experience, though."
"I'll try not to get too broken hearted."
Naruto forgotten, they walked towards the teashop, keeping a distance between each other that was not too close but close enough to let the other know that, hey, they were acknowledged. The entire way to the teashop was filled with barbs and banter and was extremely, extremely relaxed.
It was just one of those days.
*
"Stupid. I have a mission today. I don't wanna be late."
Nanashi was snuggled up against Naruto's chest, munching noisily on the last peanut he had managed to snag. "I thought you said Kakashi-sensei was always late!"
"..Maybe, but I don't want to take any chances. Now, be quiet."
"You're so meeeean," Nanashi whined. "And what did you call me, earlier?"
"Itokuzu."
"What's that mean?"
"Fluff. You talk too much."
"Fluff? Fluff?! I am NOT a fluff!"
"Yes you are, and you're a talkative one, too," Naruto grumbled. Talkative, how ironic. Just yesterday he hadn't even known that foxes could talk in the first place! Or, rather, that he could understand them..
"Dobe."
Naruto's eye twitched, and his grip on the baby fox tightened quite a bit. Nanashi hissed in annoyance.
"..Itokuzu."
"Dobe!"
"ITOKUZU!"
"DOBE!"
Sasuke sighed, watching as Naruto barked at the kit and got barked back at. Discretion, thy name is most definitely NOT Naruto. He shook his head and jogged up to the other boy.
"Oi, dobe.."
"DON'T CALL ME DOBE!"
Sasuke took a step back in surprise. Naruto had reeled on him, eyes on fire and teeth bared. The boy usually had a violent reaction to being called dobe, yes, but this was ridiculous. He raised an eyebrow. The best way to deal with these situations was to pretend like they didn't happen.
"You know, I could hear you shouting at that fox from a block away. Or rather, barking at it."
Immediately, all the anger drained from Naruto's face, replaced with faint embarrassment. He dropped his eyes back down to the fox. "Did.. um.. did anyone else hear?"
"Not that I know of. But I wouldn't recommend barking at him like that again." He fell into step with Naruto, peering at the small fox in his arms. "Hey there, fluff." He reached over to scratch it's ears, and was more than a little surprised when the fox bit him. "OW!"
Naruto laughed.
"He BIT me!"
And this, right there, started the mini war between Sasuke and Nanashi.
*
Several miles away, where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura would find themselves in a couple of hours, a man clad in a black robe crouched in a clearing. He had a large sack tied to his side, and after a few moments of examining the clearing with shrewd eyes, the man pulled out something furry and dumped it on the ground.
After one more quick look around, the man was gone.
.:end chapter one:.
a/n: This is the first time I have ever written anything with Shikamaru and Ino in it. I don't know much about the two, nor do I know much about their relationship, since I'm still working on downloading all the episodes I can. If I portrayed them wrong, you're more than welcome to leave a note in a review telling me that I'm a failure. =\
Also, I'm terrified that I might have made the characters really OOC. Um. You know. *hides*
itokuzu = fluff
nanashi = no name
byakko = white fox//spirit fox
Anything else, like 'dobe' or 'bunshin no jutsu' or 'chûnin' or anything of the sort, I'm under the impression you already know. If you don't, though, you're more than welcome to contact me. Or us. We both should know.
I came up with this after I finished writing Star Song. I was thinking about continuing it, started to write something, and ended up with this. Something completely different from Star Song.
*
As far as Naruto was concerned, curiosity didn't kill anything except maybe a couple of hours. It was around noontime and the blonde was crouched at the foot of a pond, trying to pet one of the koi that came too close to his hand. They always shied away right before his fingers could brush their shiny scales, though, so he always ended up having to start all over again.
"Hey."
Naruto started, scaring the fish away. He was concentrating so hard on trying to pet the elusive creatures that he didn't even notice Iruka walking up behind him. Embarrassed, he looked up.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei," he greeted, smiling sheepishly. "What's up?"
"If you catch me one of those fish, I'll buy you ramen.."
The chûnin was cut off when Naruto, not bothering to shed any of his clothing, dove right into the water.
"..for lunch." He laughed. "Oi, Naruto! I was kidding! Quit scaring the fish!"
Naruto surfaced, a put upon look gracing his features. His spikes drooped a little, weighed down by the water.
There was a squirming, rather pissed off looking fish in his hands.
"Cute, Iruka-sensei, real cute," Naruto grumbled, preparing to toss the fish back into the waist deep water. It smacked him on the nose with its tail. Iruka chuckled again, crouching by the edge of the water. "Does this mean you're not going to be buying me any ramen?"
"Nah. I'm low on cash right now."
Iruka, despite all his skills, could not dodge the koi to his face. The poor, abused fish flailed a little before dropping back into the water and Iruka laughed good-naturedly, wiping the droplets from his eyes.
"I guess I deserved that, ne? Come here, I was kidding. I'll buy you some ramen."
Byakko
Chapter One: Itokuzu
by Clara (one of the insomniacs)
An hour after his little encounter with Iruka and their stop to ramen shop, Naruto found himself sitting on his favorite swing. The school yard, of course, was empty, and by all means he shouldn't have been there either, but there wasn't much that could stop Naruto when he put his mind to something. As it was, he didn't want to be around the adults and their cynical stares, and therefore took refuge into the yard of the school.
He could have been training, in fact, he should have been training since there was going to be a mission the next day, but he couldn't quite bring himself to. The day was too lethargic—temperature just warm enough to make even the squirrels bouncing from branch to branch sluggish. This was the good time to go swimming in a nice, cool lake (though he had already had a taste of that), or taking a nap. He would just have to train harder and longer, later.
He sighed happily, patting his full stomach. Yes, today was definitely a day for laziness. Work should be outlawed on days like these.
A small whimper, though, interrupted his peace. He jerked in surprise, disrupting the precious balance he had on the swing and tumbling off, catching his legs on the plank. He yelped and quickly untangled himself, one hand going up to clutch his nose.
"What the HELL was that?!"
There was another whimper in response to his yell and Naruto looked around, eyes slitted in concentration. There was a puffy tail sticking out from behind the trunk of the tree his swing was tied to.
"Ne?" Naruto pushed himself to his feet, slowly and silently walking over to the tree. Whatever was behind it didn't notice him and continued to whimper.
Behind the tree was a baby fox, nudging an older, and what appeared to be dead, fox. The kit looked as if it would be pure white, if it wasn't for the blood matting its fur.
"Oh, jeez," Naruto hissed, crouching beside the foxes. The live one started and immediately scampered away from him, disappearing as he reached over to check the larger fox for a pulse. Not to his surprise, he found none. But it was warm to his touch, meaning that it had been killed recently.
The condition of the dead fox was awful. Whatever had gotten to it seemed to have been extremely brutal, what with all the wounds on the poor fox's body. What disturbed Naruto even more, though, was that the fox appeared to have been killed by a human.
"You poor thing." With pained eyes, Naruto gently lifted up the body. Blood fell from the mouth of the fox in a steady stream, splashing onto the boy's clothing. He ignored it though, instead walking back to the entrance of the school and towards his home.
He didn't notice the baby fox limping after him. He had thought it long gone.
*
Naruto buried the poor fox near the entrance of his house and left a sprig on top of the small mound. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about traditional burial techniques, so all he could do was wish that the fox had a safe journey to the afterlife. He even went so far to say a brief prayer for it.
To his surprise, when he stood from his kneeled position, the baby fox that had been by the older fox was sitting behind him. It had its left foreleg lifted from the ground, as if it were too painful for it to put down.
"Oi, fox. You followed me home, didn't you?"
The fox stared at him with an expression he couldn't read. It didn't look angry or frightened.. it seemed as if the creature was studying him. He shifted uncomfortably. There was always something disturbingly intelligent about foxes.
"Um.. are you hungry? Tired?" He took a wary step forward, but the fox hardly even blinked. "Hey! You're hurt! C'mere.."
Gently, so as not to startle the kit, he picked it up. To his surprise it didn't protest in anyway and in fact pressed its head against Naruto's chest.
"You're an awful trustworthy thing," Naruto said, smiling slightly. "Hey! I'll make you some ramen! Man, I don't know if you've had any ramen before or not, but it's my favorite!"
As Naruto walked back into his house, cradling the baby fox, he could have sworn he heard a near silent, "thank you."
*
Sleep time was definitely the best time, Naruto decided, except when it was wake-up time. What woke him up, however, wasn't his internal clock. It was a light pressure on his chest, as if something small were placed on top of it. He groaned and opened his eyes, greeted by the small white fox sitting on top of him. He had bathed it last night, removing all the blood and dirt stains, and wrapped up all his wounds. This resulted in the little fox looking like a beat up koosh ball.
He smiled at the fox.
The fox smiled back.
..
"..I'm hungry, Mister."
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Now, waking up to a talking fox was not something that happened every day for Naruto. Hell, he had never met a fox who could talk until this point. So, of course, he was a little bit surprised. Okay, he was so surprised he was practically climbing up the wall. The fox, graceful as it was, looked as if it were never moved from Naruto's chest and was sitting on top of his bed as if it were there in the first place.
"Wh.. what the HELL?!"
"I said, I'm hungry, Mister," the fox repeated, cocking its head to the side. "And, since I'm not capable of using your human appliances, I was wondering if you would be so kind to make me a meal."
Naruto just stared at the fox as if it had grown an extra head. There it was, sitting on top of his blanket, and chatting away as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"This.. this must be a dream," Naruto stammered unconvincingly. "M.. maybe if I pinch myself.." He tried. "OW!"
The fox bowed its head slightly, looking as amused as a fox could. "You're not asleep, Mister.."
Naruto stared for a long time. Of course, he should have asked other questions, such as 'can all foxes talk?' or something of the sort, but the only thing that came to his mind was..
"I gotta show you to Sasuke!"
"But I'm hungry!" The sentence was ignored as Naruto charged out of his house, not bothering to change from his pajamas or put on his shoes. The fox squirmed uncomfortably in his arms, then yelped and dug his claws into the boy's shirt. He decided to take a shortcut by rooftop.
"Hey! Foxes aren't meant to be this high!" the fox cried, then tucked its face against Naruto's neck. Naruto ignored it, leaping soundlessly against the roof that was next to Sasuke's bedroom window. He pounded on it with his free hand, the other one still supporting the fox.
"OI! SASUKE! WAKE UP!"
The dark haired genin indeed woke up, but only to open his window and smack Naruto in the nose with a flying shoe. Then he shut his window again. Naruto, off balance, nearly toppled off the roof. However, Sasuke seemed to have had a change of heart and opened the window again, grabbing the blonde's hand and dragging him inside his room. The dark haired boy glared with all the animosity he could muster up at three in the morning, which was a rather lot.
"Dobe," Sasuke growled, reaching up to scrub one of his eyes with his fist, "what the HELL are you doing here?"
"You hit me on my nose!" Naruto yowled, holding his offended appendage with his free hand.
"This is what happens when you come pounding on people's windows when they're fast asleep," Sasuke grumbled. "Now, what the fuck is so important that you had to wake me up for?"
"THIS!" Naruto cried, triumphantly brandishing the fox at Sasuke.
"..Let me get this straight," Sasuke said, closing his eyes and reaching up to put his chin in his hand. "You.. woke me up.. at three in the bloody morning.. to show me a fox?!"
"Not just any fox!" Naruto continued, undaunted. "This is a TALKING fox!"
. . .
"Naruto.."
"Nono, wait! Hear me out! Or rather, hear it out!" Naruto said quickly. He would be flapping his arms, if they were free. "Come on, fox, say something!"
"..I'm hungry."
"I'll feed you later!" Naruto grumbled.
"How come you're speaking all funny-like?"
Before Naruto could puzzle over that comment he noticed Sasuke staring at him, mouth opening and closing like a deranged fish.
"Sasuke?"
"N-Naruto? Can you understand the fox?"
"Duh, stupid, why ELSE would you think I'd come running into your room this bloody early in the morning to show you a fox?" Truthfully, the blonde was feeling faintly uneasy. In all the years he had known Sasuke, never once had he heard the other boy stutter.
"You're not just doing this to play a joke on me, right?"
"No! He really CAN talk! Didn't you hear him?"
"Naruto.." Sasuke turned around, taking a deep breath. He walked back over to his bed and sat heavily down on it, looking at his feet for a long moment before he glanced back up at Naruto. His eyes were unreadable.
"Naruto, I can't understand it."
"..what? What's there to understand? I mean.."
"No," he cut the other boy off, and briefly a pained expression flit across his face. He knew Naruto wasn't going to take this well. "I can't understand the fox. To me, it sounds like it's yipping. And when you answer it back.." He opened his eyes again, needing to see Naruto's face. Understanding was slowing begin to seep on Naruto's features.
"..you're yipping too."
There was a long silence, then Naruto sat down hard. It was as if his legs just collapsed out from underneath him. They stared at each other for a long time, blue colliding with black like a freight train.
"It's because I'm the.."
Sasuke nodded slightly and looked at the fox. It was looking up at Naruto worriedly.
What puzzled Sasuke was that he believed Naruto. Perhaps it was because he had known the boy long enough to know when he was lying or not, or perhaps it was because Naruto read like an open book, but Sasuke knew that Naruto really did understand the fox. Call it a gut feeling.
Naruto closed his eyes, taking a deep, hitched breath. It almost sounded as if he were going to start crying. Sasuke's heart clenched and he slid off the bed, crouching by the other boy.
"Oi, Naruto.."
Naruto's eyes opened and he smiled at Sasuke. It was the kind of smile he always got when he was confident over something, or trying to look confident. The darker haired boy grimaced, though. He was growing to hate that smile.
"Let's just keep this between you and me, ne, Sasuke?"
Sasuke slowly nodded, then reached over and scratched the top of the fox's head. It cooed at him, leaning against his fingers.
I promise, Naruto, no matter what happens, I will never look at you the way the other people look at you.
Naruto's attention was brought back to the fox, and he smiled fondly. "So, what do you think I should name him?"
Sasuke looked down at the fox, then smirked a little. "Poofball."
Naruto snorted and socked Sasuke's knee. "Don't be stupid. And he's too cute for that. Think of something else."
"Why'm I the one who has to think of it? Besides, what if it already has a name?"
"..shut up." Looking faintly embarrassed, Naruto looked back down at the fox. "Hey. Do you have a name?"
"No. Mama died before she could properly name me."
Naruto winced, then looked at Sasuke. "It doesn't have a name."
"No name. Name it.. Nanashi."
The blonde nodded, then smiled down at the fox. "Oi. How does 'Nanashi' sound?"
"It works," the fox responded quietly, tucking its head against the crook of his arm.
"Wait, one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Are you a boy or a girl?"
"I'M A BOY, DAMNIT!" Offended, the fox bit where he had been previously resting his head. "Can't you tell?!"
"OW!"
"Naruto! What did you say to him?"
"You knew it was a guy?!"
"Can't you tell by his features?"
"HE LOOKS LIKE A BIG FLUFF BALL TO ME—! OW! STOP BITING!"
And the night went on.
*
"Oi."
Ino jumped, scattering the some of the salted peanuts she had been eating all over the ground. She looked up and glared dangerously at Shikamaru who, of course, took a half step back. He knew his partner's temper better than anyone, since he was always the one to get on the wrong side of it.
"What do you want?"
"Ehhhh.." Shikamaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye, pulling a face. "I just wanted to see if you wanted some company, but if you're going to be so pissy.."
"Oh, cut the dramatics and just sit down," Ino grumbled. She, truth be told, wasn't up for arguing with him today. There was too much on her mind.
"Have you seen Naruto lately?"
Like Naruto, for example. It seemed as if the 'dobe' was going from the most unpopular to the most popular. He was actually starting to make a name for himself.
"No. Why?"
"Well, it could be just a rumor, but I hear he's bein' followed around by a fox," Shikamaru drawled. "It's got the adults all in an uproar."
"Everything having to do with Naruto gets the adults in an uproar," Ino grumbled, picking at the nuts until she found the saltiest one. She didn't know why she was eating them, since peanuts were fattening and, well, there was SALT on them, but she had to let herself have some guilty pleasures sometimes. She threw one that had no salt on it away from her, and was more than a little surprised when what appeared to be a ball of white fur went tumbling after it. It pounced the nut, then munched it loudly and cheerfully.
"Eh?" Ino watched the puffball come closer, stopping every so often to crunch on Ino's lost snack. "Ah! It's so cute!"
"Nanashi! Get back here!"
Ino and Shikamaru looked up from the creature, not surprised to see Naruto bounding towards them. Or, more precisely, the little thing eating the peanuts.
"Oi! Itokuzu!" Naruto growled, pouncing it. He lifted the poor thing up, and from that angle the two sitting on the step got to see that the puffball was actually just a tiny fox. Naruto snarled at the baby, almost sounding like a fox himself. The fox snarled back, squirming towards the nuts he had missed.
Shikamaru and Ino blinked, staring with faint bemusement as Naruto stomped away (not bothering to greet them, how terribly rude), still growling at the pint-sized critter.
"Ne.. Naruto is.." Shikamaru started, still watching the blonde clomp away.
"..weird?" Ino finished, lifting both her perfect eyebrows.
Both nodded sagely.
"Hey. Wanna get some tea?" Shikamaru asked, the thoughts of Naruto blowing away with the gust of refreshing wind.
Ino looked down at her now empty hands, thirst making her mouth dry and throat itchy. "Are you paying?" Despite her lofty tone, she knew she would end up going with him even if he said he wasn't. It was hot and she had just consumed a whole lot of salt.
"Why not. My treat."
Ino pushed herself to her feet, smiling broadly. "Do you even need to ask?"
"With you, yeah. You're unpredictable."
"Part of my charm. But you're paying, so I guess I'll go with you. Don't think this is going to become an every day experience, though."
"I'll try not to get too broken hearted."
Naruto forgotten, they walked towards the teashop, keeping a distance between each other that was not too close but close enough to let the other know that, hey, they were acknowledged. The entire way to the teashop was filled with barbs and banter and was extremely, extremely relaxed.
It was just one of those days.
*
"Stupid. I have a mission today. I don't wanna be late."
Nanashi was snuggled up against Naruto's chest, munching noisily on the last peanut he had managed to snag. "I thought you said Kakashi-sensei was always late!"
"..Maybe, but I don't want to take any chances. Now, be quiet."
"You're so meeeean," Nanashi whined. "And what did you call me, earlier?"
"Itokuzu."
"What's that mean?"
"Fluff. You talk too much."
"Fluff? Fluff?! I am NOT a fluff!"
"Yes you are, and you're a talkative one, too," Naruto grumbled. Talkative, how ironic. Just yesterday he hadn't even known that foxes could talk in the first place! Or, rather, that he could understand them..
"Dobe."
Naruto's eye twitched, and his grip on the baby fox tightened quite a bit. Nanashi hissed in annoyance.
"..Itokuzu."
"Dobe!"
"ITOKUZU!"
"DOBE!"
Sasuke sighed, watching as Naruto barked at the kit and got barked back at. Discretion, thy name is most definitely NOT Naruto. He shook his head and jogged up to the other boy.
"Oi, dobe.."
"DON'T CALL ME DOBE!"
Sasuke took a step back in surprise. Naruto had reeled on him, eyes on fire and teeth bared. The boy usually had a violent reaction to being called dobe, yes, but this was ridiculous. He raised an eyebrow. The best way to deal with these situations was to pretend like they didn't happen.
"You know, I could hear you shouting at that fox from a block away. Or rather, barking at it."
Immediately, all the anger drained from Naruto's face, replaced with faint embarrassment. He dropped his eyes back down to the fox. "Did.. um.. did anyone else hear?"
"Not that I know of. But I wouldn't recommend barking at him like that again." He fell into step with Naruto, peering at the small fox in his arms. "Hey there, fluff." He reached over to scratch it's ears, and was more than a little surprised when the fox bit him. "OW!"
Naruto laughed.
"He BIT me!"
And this, right there, started the mini war between Sasuke and Nanashi.
*
Several miles away, where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura would find themselves in a couple of hours, a man clad in a black robe crouched in a clearing. He had a large sack tied to his side, and after a few moments of examining the clearing with shrewd eyes, the man pulled out something furry and dumped it on the ground.
After one more quick look around, the man was gone.
.:end chapter one:.
a/n: This is the first time I have ever written anything with Shikamaru and Ino in it. I don't know much about the two, nor do I know much about their relationship, since I'm still working on downloading all the episodes I can. If I portrayed them wrong, you're more than welcome to leave a note in a review telling me that I'm a failure. =\
Also, I'm terrified that I might have made the characters really OOC. Um. You know. *hides*