Screams rent the air as crashed vibrated through the ground. Buildings and civilians alike shook. Telegraph poles came crashing down and trees were uprooted clear from the ground. Smoke filled the clear sky, blocking out the light from the moon. Fires now lit the village, spreading rapidly, sparing neither building nor human. A dog howled as a nearby house collapsed in on itself, the structure eaten away by the blazing inferno. Flashes of red could be seen, tails. Nine red tails flashed back and forth in the center of the village. Nine red tails attached to a blue-eyed demon. Kyuubi no Kitsune grinned.
"KYUUBI!"
"RUN!"
"THE DEMON!"
"IT'S BACK!"
Like a ripple in a pond, people began to run for the gates, tripping over one another, fleeing the gigantic beast which stood as tall as the hokage tower. Some were trampled underfoot as they cared only for their own lives. Shinobi and civilians, fighting for freedom. Fighting against each other, among themselves, frantic to escape the claustrophobia of the crowds, the burning heat of the buildings. One boy tried to run along the shoulders of the crowd. Kyuubi's tail flicked out and snatched him up. The last thing the boy saw were the still-human eyes in the face of a monster fox. The crunch of the child's bones echoed throughout the village, louder to his ears than the noise of the crown who doubled their efforts and volume. The tails slicked out again, slamming people into houses, crumbling the fragile husks of homes. He couldn't more, couldn't do anything to help, couldn't escape, even when a piece of burning timber barely missed him. The death count was rising quickly as civilians died running, mothers died protecting their children, children died screaming, shinobi died in disgrace. The ground shook as the nine tails whipped up air currents and rekindled dying embers, slamming into the earth. Then all was quiet.
He stood in the burning remnants of his home, a graveyard and crematorium in one. Bodies too close to flaming houses were melting, their faces becoming disfigured beyond recognition. Not that there was anyone to recognize them anyway. The fox turned, shimmering in the heat. He was sweating badly as the monstrous figure loomed above him. Bright blue met black and red, and he found himself looking into the eyes of the only man to whom he had ever said,
"I love you."