All right people, here it is, as promised, the beginning of our new story. A couple of warnings…this one will not be as cute and chibi-ish as the last one…but it is good. Secondly, it's long. Extremely long…like…200+ pages long, so this may take a while. Please be patient with us.
Also, some things I would like to clear up about Foxed!. First of all, thank you everyone for the positive reviews…and the sheer number of reviews for that matter (616 and counting O.o), it is very nice to know that your work is appreciated. And while we definitely appreciate constructive criticism I would like to ask that our use of Japanese words not be questioned…we don't use them unless we know what we want to portray. For example, we had Naruto call Sasuke 'Sasuke-chan' because he was teasing him. And we did not want them to say they loved each other at the end but instead wrote Arigato.
Also, there were several reviewers who pointed out bad spelling for which we apologize. We write these stories on msn and it all has to be edited afterwards. To make matters worse one of us has dyslexia so there are often a great number of misspelled words, and even worse, misused words that are difficult sometimes to pick up during the editing process. We did have a beta reader for a while but it became inconvenient with our infrequent updating so we just ended up putting them up as they were. If there is someone out there who would like the job you're more than welcome to take it, but you will have to be patient with us. If not, then type-o's are an inevitable reality and we are well aware of their existence, but are too lazy to go over the stories three or four times to try and catch them.
Now, enough ranting…onto the story! It's one of the best that we've done so hopefully you will all enjoy it.
Chapter 1
Iruka sighed as the hot sun beat down on his head. He was out in the markets looking at all the new merchandise that was on display. The merchants had just come in with new stock and Iruka, even though he hated shopping and the sun was making him unbearably hot, knew he would kick himself later if he did not go now. Not really finding much that suited his interest, Iruka moved on to the slave markets. Not that he was going to buy a slave but the demons that the slavers brought in were always a sight to see.
He wandered down the little street where the slave market was going on, peering into the various cages. There were a lot of dog and wolf demons for sale...they were common demons that could be found anywhere and were good for menial labour. Iruka, however, moved quickly to the end of the street, where the more exotic creatures were held, and walked slowly through. There wasn't really much of a selection today...as he wandered past a few cages, however, a bright orange colour caught his eye. Hunching down to get a better look, he found a small fox demon...young by the look of it, stuck halfway between demon and human form.
The demon's legs were drawn up to his chest with a bright orange tail wrapped around them shielding some of his nakedness. A head of bright yellow hair, which suck out in all directions, was shading his eyes preventing Iruka from seeing the colour. The large fox ears were drooping with misery as he hunched in the small cage.
As if feeling Iruka's gaze on him the small fox demon looked up and stared at him with the brightest blue eyes he had ever seen.
Iruka stared at the animal a while before giving it a small smile. "Hello there..." He spoke up, at which point the demon squeaked in fear and hid again, trembling all over. Iruka couldn't help but feel his heart go out to the poor creature...it was so young, and judging by the bruising on its body, it hadn't had that great of a life. He looked up at the slave vendor who was standing over his wares. "Excuse me..." He spoke up to get his attention.
The slaver scratched at his ear like he had fleas, and Iruka didn't really like the look of the man. He seemed to look more like hired muscle then a legitimate demon slaver.
"Yeah, What you want?" the man demanded as if he couldn't really be bothered.
Iruka sighed and stood up, "How much for the fox demon?" he asked as the guy scratched his ass and drew his brow together, thinking.
"100 gold pieces." The man answered at last, and Iruka stared at him then stood up.
"For this little creature, he isn't even worth half that." Iruka told him calmly. The little fox demon lifted its head a little to regard him as he spoke.
"He's rare." The man answered.
Iruka, however, was stubborn when he wanted to be, and managed to haggle the man down to 40 gold pieces...a little more than he would have liked to pay but it was ok.
"Fine, Fine!" the man finally gave up on getting a good price for the demon and settled on getting rid of it. Taking Iruka's gold coins, he kicked at the cage, "Come on you!" he said, jarring the demon from his huddled position in the corner, "You got yourself a new master now get out of that cage I got more important things to do." He kicked the cage more violently and the fox demon yelped in pain and surprise before stumbling out onto the dirt at Iruka's feet. Turning and hissing at the man, the fox looked like he was ready to take his finger off but then cowered as the man grabbed him by the caller and attached a chain.
"There you go mister, pleasure doing business with you."
Iruka blinked as the chain was roughly shoved into his hand and the man went back to his business. He looked down at his purchase, who seemed torn between running away and huddling up against his leg to hide from the frightening man. He tugged gently on the chain. "Come on, little one, let's get you home." He told the demon in a quiet voice. It looked up at him and blinked its blue eyes in confusion, but when Iruka moved forward it obediently followed him.
Iruka looked back at the small demon he now owned, what was he going to do with it? It wasn't like they needed any more slaves, and this child was too small for manual labour. He barely reached Iruka's chest. Sighing, Iruka decided to give him to the heir to the Kingdom, his future boss, but at this point in time his student. Uchiha Sasuke. Maybe the demon could be a personal attendant or something.
He realized that the demon was huddled over as he walked, with his tail wrapped around himself, timidly hiding his unmentionables from the public. He didn't know that demons cared about that kind of thing...Sighing, he pulled off his outermost robe and draped it over the demon's shoulders. It blinked and stared at him, wide eyed, then took it off and tried to give it back.
Iruka couldn't help but smile a little as he knelt down and wrapped the robe around its shoulders again. "It's alright, you take it for now." He told it gently.
The bright blue eyes stared up at Iruka in astonishment. A blush spread across the whisker-like striped cheeks as the demon ducked his head and pulled the jacket Iruka had placed on him closer. Iruka smiled and ruffled its blonde hair, this demon was so young and innocent he couldn't help but think the fox was cute.
Standing up again Iruka resumed walking with the fox trailing behind closely.
At last, the two of them reached the castle, where the little fox's hopefully new master was waiting. That is, of course, if the dark haired boy decided that he in fact wanted to keep it...he was being moody as of late...
He led the little fox demon into the building, and it stared up in awe at the inside of the castle, blue eyes widened almost to the size of saucers.
Hiding himself behind Iruka the small boy fox stared up at the castle with wonder and probably a lot of fear. Iruka smiled and shock his head; this demon was sure different from any other demon he had dealt with in the past.
Just as he was lost in thoughts about the fox Iruka was interrupted when a very loud and very green captain of the guard jumped in front of him and loudly challenged him. Iruka cringed a little as he saw the guy's big eyebrows and even bigger grin sparkling in the sunlight.
The demon squeaked in surprise and fear and cowered behind Iruka to get away from the scary, scary man with the scary eyebrows and even scarier eyes...plus he was very, very loud and was probably hurting his sensitive ears.
Iruka sighed. "Gai...it's me, Iruka, the prince's personal attendant, remember?" He asked, exasperated.
"Oh yeah, and just what is that?" Gai asked, pointing to the cowering child behind him.
Iruka sighed and rubbed his head, which maid his topknot to sway back and forth in front of the young demons eyes who was cowering behind him.
Iruka opened his mouth to answer the very simple question when he felt something grab onto his topknot. "Ack!" Iruka cried and leaned backwards to relieve the pull on his hair.
Gai, thinking that the small child behind him was attacking Iruka, was ready to come to his rescue. He grabbed the demon, who squirmed and hissed trying to get away and releasing the topknot he'd grabbed onto because it looked so interesting waving back and forth like that.
Iruka turned around quickly. "Gai, stop!" He yelled, and snatched the demon from his arms. It actually quieted down and allowed Iruka to hold it, glaring at the scary green man that had assaulted it.
Iruka sighed with relief when the demon stopped hissing at Gai who was staring at it in shock. "That's a Demon." Gai said stupidly and Iruka sighed.
"Yes Gai he is, I bought him earlier at the markets."
Gai rubbed his chin looking at the scrawny thing in Iruka's arms, "Doesn't seem to be that good for labour...looks pretty young too..."
The demon pulled back as Gai leered closer, and hid his face in Iruka's chest to hide. "He's pretty timid, too, what good is a demon like that?" Gai asked.
Iruka sighed. "I was going to give it to the prince, perhaps he can find a use for it..." He explained. "Can I go now? I have things I need to do."
Gai blinked, then nodded and waved his arm. "Sure, go ahead...but if that demon causes trouble I want him out of the castle!" He called after Iruka's retreating form.
Iruka sighed and didn't even bother answering Gai, after all it was really Sasuke's judgment he had to pass and if the demon did then there was really nothing Gai could do even if it ransacked some top officials rooms or painted the dining room pink.
Thinking first that the demon...he really had to think up a name for it, could do with a bath before meeting with the heir, Iruka lead it to his own chambers were he had his own private bath. Most upper class people did and Iruka didn't think the public baths would be a good place to bathe the demon.
The demon at first fought when Iruka tried to put him in the water, obviously not liking the feel of his fur being wet, but somehow he managed to coax him in, and got about scrubbing it's fur and skin clean of all the dirt that had accumulated during it's capture. The dirty blonde hair on its head revealed itself to be a bright mop of soft golden curls, and the ears and tail were a deep orange.
Finally when Iruka thought him clean enough, he dumped the last bit of clean water over the bright mop of hair and pulled the plug on the drain, emptying the water. Helping the young demon out of the tub he stood there dripping wet. Iruka was about to towel him dry when the demon suddenly shock himself vigorously sending water spraying everywhere.
Iruka wiped the water from his face and sighed, throwing a towel at the demon. "Use that, will you?" He asked it, and went to answer a knock at the door. A serving girl stood outside, holding the clothing he'd requested, a small slave kimono to attire the fox demon in order to present him to Sasuke. Turning around, he found the fox turning the towel in his hands with a puzzled look on his face.
Iruka tried to suppress a laugh as the demon pulled the towel up and laid it on his head, apparently when you were a demon you didn't bother with towels to dry yourself. Walking over to the demon who still had the towel on his head, with only the bright orange ears peeking out, Iruka lifted the edge of the towel and looked at the confused creature underneath. "Need help?" he asked.
The demon blinked at him, then glomped onto him thankfully, effectively soaking the front of Iruka's robes. The older man sighed and just proceeded to rub the towel on its head, drying the ears and the blonde hair. Eventually he managed to dry the demon entirely, and helped him into the clothes...they were a little short, but they would have to do. Iruka then combed out the messy locks of hair ...an action that the demon did not seem to like very much because he hissed a lot as Iruka pulled the knots out.
At lest he wasn't trying to bite Iruka which the older man though was a good thing. Finally deeming the fox demon presentable, Iruka put the brush down and admired the tame blonde locks, only to have all his work undone when the demon shock his head vigorously, effectively making it stand on end again. Sighing, Iruka didn't bother combing it down again. What was the point if the demon was just going to shake his head and do that again?
Iruka didn't like to have to reattach the chain to the demon's collar but didn't think that letting it get away from him and wandering around the palace on it's own would be a good idea. As he bent down to pick up the fallen chain, he heard the door open, and slow, steady footsteps entered the room.
"Hmmm, what's going on here?" A merry voice asked, eying Iruka, soaking wet and picking things off the floor, and the little slave demon perched on his chair on all fours, eying the newcomer suspiciously.
Iruka turned to Kakashi and eyed him suspiciously as well, but unlike the fox, Iruka had a reason for the suspicion. "Kakashi...aren't you supposed to be in a meeting?" he asked the sliver haired man who laughed beneath his mask that he took off for no one.
"Oh! Really? Was that today?" he asked innocently causing Iruka to sigh with frustration and annoyance. Kakashi was the heir's official guardian and was ruling instead until Sasuke was old enough, but the man couldn't have been the worst person in change of Sasuke's affairs.
Iruka twitched a little. "Yes, that was today..." He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Honestly, Kakashi, if you miss another meeting the Hyuuga will have your head on a platter."
"Aw, come on Iruka, it's not as bad as all that." Kakashi scratched the back of his head, and Iruka sighed, turning back to the task at hand. Trying to get through to Kakashi was like trying to talk to a wall and get an intelligent response from it.
Iruka turned back to the demon fox and attached the chain to the collar, the demon didn't seem to like it though and Iruka couldn't blame it at all for pouting.
Kakashi rested his chin on Iruka's shoulder as he looked at the demon fox, "Hmmm kind of young don't you think?" Kakashi asked then grinned, "I didn't know you were into that stuff Iruka!" he laughed and slapped Iruka on the butt.
Iruka turned red, and whirled around to glare at Kakashi. "Wha...how dare you, you perverted man!" He cried angrily, his face burning. "This child his a present for the prince, get your mind out of the gutter...and don't you ever touch me like that again!"
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but it was obvious he was smirking under the mask. "My...touchy today, aren't we?" He leered closer to Iruka.
Red faced, Iruka glared at the man who he knew was just grinning under that mask enjoying Iruka's embarrassment all too much. Trying to control his anger he turned away from Kakashi and looked down at the wide eyed fox demon staring up at him, apparently he had not expected Iruka to explode at the sliver haired man like that.
"Come..." He told the demon and tugged a little on the chain to get him to move. The demon hopped off of the chair and looked from the silver haired man to Iruka as Iruka continued to glare at him. "You should get to that meeting." He told him icily, before leading the child out the door and into the hallway. The fox demon looked questioningly at Iruka, but the older man didn't offer any explanation, just muttered about perverts under his breath.
Looking around him the demon stared at the tapestries that hung on the wall and resisted the urge to flop onto the soft carpet that was at his feet. He could only remember being in the cage for most of his life and before that, well he had never been inside a human home before so everything was so new to him. He still remembered the day his mother was killed and the humans had captured him, the years after that he would have preferred to forget but they would not leave him at all.
He'd been kept in that cage for so long, he'd hardly known how to stand after being let out of it. He was surprised at this human's behavior...he didn't hit him or yell at him, or twist his ears at all. Although he was still very, very hungry he ignored it; hunger was something he was used to by now...
"Sasuke..." Iruka called into the room, and the demon silently followed him as he led him farther into the room, eyes scanning every inch of it. He would like to stay here...it seemed very comfortable, but didn't want to touch anything for fear of being slapped as punishment by the humans, so instead he kept close to Iruka.
Iruka didn't hit or scold him when he did something that apparently was wrong. He just sighed or smiled and corrected the mistake he had made.
Looking around the room from behind Iruka the demon noticed a younger human sitting at a desk scribbling funny things on some paper. Not even looking up the dark haired human answered with a very annoyed voice, "What?" He demanded as if he could not be bothered with anything at that point in time.
"I'm sorry..." Iruka apologized for having interrupted his studies. "I found this at the marketplace and thought you might like to take it in..." He pushed the demon in front of him. The younger human, who had dark, blue black hair, looked up and fixed his equally dark eyes on the demon, who froze under his scrutinizing gaze. He fidgeted a little while he and Iruka waited for the young man to say something.
"And what am I supposed to do with this?"
The demon ducked his head a little at the cold tones; it was like however other human had talked to him, they were either cold or hateful. Behind him he could practically hear Iruka sweat.
"Um well I though he could be a-a personal attendant...or something..." Iruka said. Sasuke sighed and put down his brush before standing up and walking over to the young demon.
Sasuke's gaze swept over the demon's small frame as it stood there, uncomfortable under his stare. It was scrawny...malnourished, a bit disheveled, despite the fact that it had obviously been cleaned up to make it presentable. It was difficult to determine it's age, but it's body structure made it look like a child about his age, maybe younger. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with such a demon slave...
"Do you have a name?" He spoke directly to it in his matter of fact tone.
Blinking in surprise to the question the young demon ducked its head a little; behind him Sasuke could see Iruka was also shocked by his question to the demon.
"M-mother...always called me...Naruto..." the demon said and Sasuke was a bit surprised at the answer, weren't demons supposed to be almost incapable of speech? Answering in the most simplistic of ways? And here this one had answered the question and mentioned its mother. Looking over the demons shoulder Sasuke could see that Iruka was shocked to hear it speak so intelligently for a demon as well.
Sasuke looked back at the demon, who was still staring at the ground. "Naruto..." He said the name, and it looked up at him. Sasuke was even more surprised to see two deep blue orbs staring back at him, shy and frightened. He covered his surprise easily. "Do you know where you are?" He asked.
Naruto shook his head. "N-no...I know I came over the water in a big boat but..." He ducked his head again, obviously fearing it had spoken too much.
Staring down at the demon Sasuke was once again struck by how intelligent he was, well not nearly as intelligent as any human he knew but much more then any demon he'd heard of. Looking up at Iruka who was still looking kind of nervous over the fate of the demon before him Sasuke sighed almost in annoyance, "I'll keep him...it might prove interesting." Sasuke said and watched with mild amusement when relief flooded Iruka's face.
"I-I'm so glad." Iruka breathed a sigh of relief, but Sasuke didn't say anything in return. They boy was very reserved, and remained broodingly quiet most of the time. Iruka bowed to the young man. "I...I'll leave you to get acquainted then..." He said, and left the room.
Naruto watched as Iruka left, suddenly feeling very nervous. He liked the human with the kind voice and gentle eyes. This one peered at him as if he were nothing more than an interesting specimen...
Sighing Sasuke bent down to detach the chain form the demons caller. Naruto thinking that he was going to get smacked or his ears twisted ducked his head waiting for the pain to come. He was kind of surprised though when nothing happened and the heavy chain fell into his lap. Looking up again Naruto was surprised that Sasuke was sitting back in his chair and back to his lesson demon complete forgotten.
Naruto blinked as Sasuke picked up his pen again and started scrawling those strange symbols on it again. He watched for what seemed like forever, before boredom and frustration won out his common sense and he glared a little at the young dark haired boy. "Hey...Sasuke, is it?" He spoke up, but Sasuke didn't even look up from his lesson.
Still on his knees Naruto inched his way forwards little by little until he was right beside the dark haired boy. His nose twitched at the strong smell of ink and paper as he watched Sasuke scribbling away. Nothing maid sense to the young demon but watching Sasuke scribbling was kind of mesmerizing. Shaking his head in annoyance Naruto pouted and inched closer to the boy again before he finally lay his head down on Sasuke's lap...it was a bold move on his part but it was the only thing he could think of to get the boys attention that wouldn't result in punishment.
Sasuke suddenly stiffened, and sat very still as the demon placed his head casually in his lap as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He felt his face heat up at the unaccustomed contact...no one in his court would dare to get that close to him for any reason, the ebony eyed heir allowed no one to touch him without permission.
But the fox demon was young...probably frightened to be in this place, so Sasuke thrust down his anger as best as he could so he wouldn't explode at him. Naruto, however, still did not move from his spot on Sasuke's lap.
This would have been comparable to a staring contest were neither dared to move for any reason. Sasuke stared down at the blonde head of hair that was nestled in his lap, he wanted to shove the demon off his lap, he wanted to smack or scold him, he wanted to ...scratch the blonde behind the ears...wait were did THAT thought come from?
Controlling the blush that wanted to spread across Sasuke's cheeks the dark haired boy put down his pen and rested his hand on the blonde locks. He did not scratch the demon behind the ears though, and instead he asked Naruto if he was hungry. It was a safe question and it would get the demon off of him.
Naruto immediately lifted his head off of Sasuke's lap and stared up at Sasuke, his blue eyes large and watery. "R-really? You'll feed me?" He asked.
Sasuke blinked and shook his head. "You are under my care, I would not condemn you to starve..." He began, but stopped dead when the demon gave a happy squeak and suddenly threw his arms around Sasuke's waist.
Jerking back in surprise was not the best thing Sasuke could have done for that situation. Combined with Naruto's grip on his waist and Sasuke's sudden motion to escape, they found themselves laying in a heap on the floor, the chair Sasuke had been sitting on was now missing a leg.
Seeing what he had done Naruto jumped off of his new master and bowed his head to the floor trembling as he tried to apologize.
Sasuke sat up and rubbed his head, and eyed the trembling demon in front of him as Naruto apologized profusely. Standing up, he approached the blonde, and reached a hand down. Naruto instinctively closed his eyes tightly and awaited the blow that was sure to come.
So he was more than surprised when Sasuke's hand merely touched the top of his head, and kept it there, but made no move to hurt him.
"Baka, you have to be more careful." Was all Sasuke said before removing his hand from the blonde's head and walking over to the door where a small string thing hung. Naruto blinked in confusion not only from not getting punished but also from the fact that Sasuke pulled on the string twice before letting it go.
Naruto watched as Sasuke stood there and waited for something to happen...he didn't understand it much, but after a few minutes, the door opened and a young man stepped in, bowing to Sasuke.
"You rang, my lord?" The man asked.
"Yes...my chair is broken." Sasuke told the man, who nodded in understanding and moved to take the chair and the broken leg, and took it out into the hallway. Naruto could only stare at Sasuke...how could a human that young hold that kind of power over other humans? From what he'd seen so far, most people didn't enjoy taking orders from others. The man came back with a new chair and placed it where the old one had been, and Sasuke gave him orders to bring up dinner for two.
Nodding again the man left Sasuke alone again with Naruto, the young fox demon fidgeted a little, he didn't understand at all how Sasuke held so much power over that man or Iruka.
As he pondered this thought, Sasuke went back to his desk and sat in his new chair resuming where he had left off. Naruto sighed he was being ignored again. Being slightly bolder this time Naruto looked over Sasuke's shoulder and peered down at the scribbles.
He watched as Sasuke's hand expertly scribbled on the paper, in nice neat little lines, with the strong smelling ink. After a moment, Naruto peered closer so that his head was almost directly beside Sasuke's. "What are you doing, master Sasuke?" He asked, remembering what the slave traders had said about how he was to refer to his masters. He was bound to human service most likely for the rest of his life, after all.
He could feel Sasuke stiffen beside him, but it was quickly controlled as he continued to scribble on the paper. "It's called writing." Sasuke said and stopped to look at the fox demon, he had an inkling of an idea sparking in the back of his brain. "Do you want to learn?" he asked and watched as Naruto bright blue eyes widened.
"Really?" Naruto asked staring at him in disbelief. "Master Sasuke's...going to teach Naruto how to w-...wwwrritee?" Naruto asked trying out the new word. Sasuke blinked, he had actually thought that Iruka should teach him but he could do it he supposed.
Besides, his studies had become a bit tedious as of late...perhaps it would do him good to have something else to concentrate on. "Come, sit, and I'll show you." He instructed Naruto, who looked around. He didn't see any more of the things Sasuke was sitting on, so he instead tried to climb into Sasuke's lap. Sasuke turned red and cleared his throat.
"Baka...what do you think you're doing?" He asked the blonde, who blinked his blue eyes up at him in confusion.
"...Master told Naruto to sit..." He answered.
TBC…