Chapter #1: Stranger Danger!
By: The Lazy Artist
Editor: The Lazy Artist's Mum (sooner or later…)
Disclaimer: I don't Naruto.
Warning: Yaoi, poor language… etc?
Random Fact about The Author: My favorite animals are Foxes.
Authors Note: I'm not exactly sure what I have in mind for this story, it just sort of popped into my head while I was eating a ridiculous amount of pudding while watching Game of Thrones…
One day, during the year 513, stricken by wanderlust and thus wandering the halls of his manor; a forty-seven year old Jiraiya found himself face to face with the looming figure of his refrigerator. Normally one wouldn't express concern toward their refrigerator, but for the six weeks of his stay it has been eating his left-overs. Known for being a paranoid "pervert" - a title he scoffs at – Jiraiya has finally found a reason to spend his well-earned money on something other than expensive suits and wine for he needs a high tech security system. Due to his paranoia the man originally refused the idea until (about a week ago) his dearest childhood friend, Tsunade, showed up on his doorstep after receiving a rather disturbing snail-mail from the writer and informed him that if he didn't install the system then she would be staying with him until the problem was settled, ignoring the fact that he had houses all over the world and that this manor was merely a place for him to clear his head of the recent drama his Hokage has been sprouting; and despite his absolute adoration toward his busty female friend, he very much enjoys having his jewels in the proper location and insisted on her return to Konoha. Sadly, she decided to hang around and enjoy the stray cats occupying his basement.
Minutes before his sudden wanderlust, a team of security tech specialists entered his house and started to work on installing cameras throughout his second floor, undoubtedly scuffing up his wooden stairs with their motion-sensor cameras and work-boots. Moving at a practiced rate, the men finished the job within an hour. Thanking the men for their time, Jiraiya took the initiative to thank all five of them personally along with a fifty dollar tip, only to feel his paranoia washed over him when a one of the men gave him a look that screamed prime evil. Jiraiya wanted to burst into tears, why weren't any of these people women?!
Now, those who know this writer assume his habit was a curse from his father, or perhaps great-great-great grandfather, but one can't be sure. It's a curse that he was born with, and with it he shall continue on until the very end. We're speaking of course, about his crippling addiction for spying on and conversing with young women. Why? Honestly? Every day is the same nightmare of high pitch screams and talon-like nails. Lying in agony, waiting for the doctor to inform him that his extra appendage will no longer be valid for service due to the stamping of heels. Thousands of hours have been spent peeking through that conveniently placed peep-hole on the wall of the woman's section of the public bathhouses which inevitably resulted in an emergency air-lift to the nearest hospital. Why should he care what others think of him? Why should anyone care for his obsession regarding the female form?
Jiraiya wandered toward his ridiculously lavish bathroom to do some serious pondering upon his porcelain throne while the security personnel moved their equipment to the back of their truck. Grabbing one of his magazines, he lifted the lid of his toilet. There, in the toilet, was the biggest turd the middle aged man had ever seen in his life; a long, green tinted, coiling specimen at the bottom of the once chemically changed, blue tinted water. Absolute shock shut down his brain until with the idea of simply leaving the beast alone sprang to life – only to remember it was his bathroom. Tossing that thought aside, he moved toward the window over his laundry basket, and minutely pondered the trajectory of the turd should he merely pluck it from the toilet and fling it out the window.
Unfortunately, due to one of his midnight panty-snatching-from-clotheslines-adventures in Iwa, his throwing arm isn't all that good anymore - providing a ninety percent chance that the enormous turd will, in fact, miss the security van windshield in his round-about driveway. Finally coming to a conclusion, the middle aged man flushed the toilet and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that if he doesn't watch it then the damn thing will simply vanish down the pipe and be out of his life forever. Luckily, the turd wasn't thick enough to clog his roost as it snaked its way down the pipe in a mini-vortex of human excrement and lavender scented toilet cleaner. Only upon leaving the bathroom with the determination to relieve himself in one of his other bathrooms did he realize that there was no toilet-paper alongside that turd.
Ten minutes after finishing what he set out to do in his upstairs bathroom, Jiraiya stalked out of the bathroom nearest to the front door, the bathroom furthest from that beast's nesting area. Snagging his cell from his red-and-tan striped pajama bottoms he quickly checked the weather and his emails before wandering into his living room and out onto the patio with a glass of wine in order to look over the footage linked to his mobile phone, hoping that whatever was haunting his house would show itself, thinking that he had left.
Scoffing at the monitor, Jiraiya became morbidly fascinated with the fact that somewhere in the bathroom he just did his business in, there was a camera projected directly at the toilet. Ignoring that tid-bit of the recording, he rings up his other childhood friend, Orochimaru, and is allowed a five minute long therapy session regarding the massive creature birthed in his bathroom thanks to some stranger. The crash of thunder echoes somewhere off to the east of his house before dead silence meets him.
Annoyed with the hysterical laughter, Jiraiya hangs up on his irritating friend only to catch movement on his mobile. There, in the corner of his kitchen cabinet he always assumed was simply there for decoration (for he just bought this house six n' a half weeks ago for its scenery) a skinny hand reaches toward the fridge with practiced caution. Learning forward, glass of wine forgotten, Jiraiya feels his eyes almost pop out of his head as the owner of the hand inches out of the cabinet. Immediately ringing Tsunade up, he scoots to the corner of his patio and whispers into the phone,
"Oh my God. Tsunade!"
"What the hell-" Eyes darting from the patio door to the image on his mobile, Jiraiya practically squeaks;
"There's a person in my fucking cabinet! A person!" Silence meets his frantic pants, and with a single glance at his phone he knew Tsunade was on her way up from the basement to beat the living shit out of the intruder and then himself for possibly interrupting her alone time with the basement strays. Now, despite his frantic, if not slightly cowardly appearance, Jiraiya is one of the world's top martial artists, alongside Tsunade and Orochimaru. On the down side, Jiraiya is terrified of thriller, suspense filled movies, and seeing that hand reach out of that cabinet in slow-motion made his skin crawl.
Daring another look at his cell screen, Jiraiya found himself screen to face with a pair of brilliant blue eyes, and wild blonde hair as a teenage boy climbed out of the cabinet with a limp to his step, obviously in pain. Despite the teenager's eagerness to invade his fridge, Jiraiya couldn't help but notice how skinny the boy actually was (for he wasn't wearing a shirt) and dark rings around his eyes and brought out a rather sickly flush. Not only that, but the black swirl of a tattoo singled that the boy was a pre-matured Ferius.
Jiraiya scowls as the boy stuffs his face full of his left-overs. He couldn't be over the age of ten and he's obviously new at dealing with human technology. Straightening himself, Jiraiya slowly opens the patio door, weary of making noise (for his species has hyper-sensitive hearing and silently thanked his - now retired – butler for thoroughly oiling all the door hinges in the house before taking his leave. Keeping his eyes on his cell, Jiraiya made sure that the boy didn't see, or hear, him as he made his way to the kitchen, bent on blocking his way to the cabinet.
It took ten seconds for Jiraiya to sneak to the kitchen doorway, fifteen seconds for him to get up the urge to rush him, and then five more seconds for Jiraiya to not only run into the kitchen screaming but to also block his way back into the cabinet, startling the boy, making him jump to the top of his refrigerator.
"Jiraiya I swear if you're drunk –"Blinking she stares at the fox-like boy, his eyes wide with fear. "-Why is there a half-naked Ferius standing in your kitchen?" Arms crossed, Tsunade took the "don't fuck with me" stance and stared at the strange animal-like ears
"Don't give me that look, Tsunade – I'm not into furries!" a scowl dug into her tanned features; "I'm not a pedophile either!" finding himself at par with a Tsunade's disbelieving gaze, Jiraiya face palmed. Jokes aside, Jiraiya felt growing worry toward the increasingly angry and fearful Ferius on top of his fridge. His animal features could be seen now, with long nails carving into his silver fridge, sharp fangs flashing in a snarl, golden fox ears with black tips are pressed against the side of his skull and three puffed out fox tails have knocked over the mason-jars filled with jam on top of his fridge, startling the creature even more.
"Call the Hokage, Jiraiya – tell him to send his best team to collect this boy, there hasn't been a Ferius sighting in over 50 years!" Excitement evident in her voice, Jiraiya scowled, whispered a few words into his cell then inched toward the kitchen cabinet in order to prevent the fox from escaping as Tsunade looked over the boy's physical appearance with a deep frown, and wondered where how the boy managed to survive long enough to gain three tails.
They use to be hidden, secretive. No one could actually prove their existence. Over the centuries many have been marked as "tricksters", "trouble-makers" or "masters of seduction" These were the titles they put upon themselves, in order to come off as Myths or Legends in the minds of the humans. In reality they were not so harmless. Stories were created in order to discourage humans from the very thought of perusing their species, in fear of being cursed or haunted. These creatures were rare and to those few that had laid eyes on them, and lived, had been written off as attention seekers, story tellers. A silent war was reigning its ugly head whenever a human entered their territories. These creatures held the laws of nature, and were never fond of sharing.
They lived within the mountains, deep in the subterranean world, at least that's what was assumed. The world they inhabited could only be described as a "rift" or a "tear" in both space and time, all along the mountain ranges across the world. They have always been there. They watched how mankind lived without intentional interference. They waited and slowly learned about their way of life and eventually began to blend into their society in order to learn even more. It was a method of staying low at that point, but eventually became a necessity in order for them to survive.
The nations of Earth grew anxious as the centuries went by. Mankind slowly grew aware of the climate changes across the planet. In an attempt to reverse possible damage caused by the multitude of factories and chemicals mass-produced by humans, the great forests that remained were to be preserved and rehabilitated. But as the years passed, scientists and scholars began to notice the changes of the forests, now left greatly untouched by mankind, as they grew denser, uncontrolled and wild. The long-veiled realm was merging, ever so slightly with our own, forcing "them" to coincide with man instead of merely continuing their lives in the shadows. And there are now enormous beings within the greater forests, along with abundant, poisonous plant-life. The world as they know it began to revert back to its original state; untouched by man and beyond their control.
The creatures were dangerous, but never truly mad. They always took great care in choosing who they killed: the weak, the old, the depraved. They tended to "hang" in the red-light districts of major cities in order to pick off their preferred targets. They always cleaned up after themselves but would often leave some sort of offering at the scene of their crime, be it a simple, small rock embellished with a smiley face, or a plain, beaded charm. Something defined, and quite out of place. In doing this, humankind eventually began to feel that these beings were quietly mocking them. They felt that these "beasts" were telling us they could do anything they want, and we couldn't do anything to stop them.
These creatures thought that they could elude mankind forever. 'It's only technology' they told themselves, 'it will never affect us.' If only that was the truth. Mankind found that tracking the creatures is much easier than originally perceived; for these creatures would react violently to high tuned frequencies that humans cannot hear – allowing the creatures to either be subdued or enraged depending on the pitch and length of the frequency.
Along with their ability to hear high pitch frequencies, these creatures can show animalistic characteristics when their emotions run wild, or are continuously exposed to high frequencies. Features such as wings, tails, ears and even gills have been known to form during particular episodes. The creatures vary in size, intelligence, etc. As a result of the merging between the two dimensions; Earth has taken on the physical appearance of the creature's dimension, forming a massive continent with the appearance of Pangea, yet technology remained. Over the course of three hundred years, mankind managed to corrupt thousands of these creatures by exposing large masses of them to harsh frequencies and aggressive objectives.
Mankind never expected their silky, multicolored coats to rot and turn into shaggy mounds of black on steaming flesh. They're naturally light colored eyes darkened to a deep orange; the whites darkend to grey, claws lengthened and fangs grew saber; it was a problem that drove the creatures to their insanity. The humans never expected the mutation to change the course of who ruled over the enormous continent – and eventually a war broke out between the nations of Old Earth. It took generations upon generations to form a working government; which eventually lead to the creation of five massive kingdoms; the land of Fire: Konohagakure, the land of Wind: Sunagakure, the land of Water: Kirigakure, the land of Lightning: Kumogakure, and the land of Earth: Iwagakure. In-between these five massive countries reside the creatures known as the Ferius which meaning "Wild Beast" in Old Earth Latin; 'a suiting name-' many concluded '-for such creatures.'
There are different ranks regarding the Ferius. Rank 4 AKA Ferum's involve creatures that have lost themselves to the world and have mutated into savage beasts the size of horses with the unrestricted urge to kill. They're often spotted by their dark, rotting coats and the scent of blood. Humans are said to believe that these creatures were sent out by the Devil himself to destroy everything they have ever worked for. They lack rational thought but follow commands without question and absolutely adore tearing men, women and children apart.
A Rank 3, AKA Fera's, are humans that have had a Ferius somewhere along their family tree. Aside from their obvious animal characteristics, the Fera appear primarily human and have super-human abilities, Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru are Fera's; Tsunade has power over a healing slime from Slugs, Orochimaru has power over the poisons of serpents and Jiraiya has the control over toads. Fera's are considered nobles in today's society, for the ability to harness the blood of a Ferius is incredibly difficult and without the proper training, they go insane. Fera's have the ability to mold physical energy in every cell of their body alongside spiritual energy from their surroundings, and with experience they are able to properly mold the power in order to kill those who threaten the kingdoms. Humans call this power Chakra and these hybrids are immune to the high pitch frequencies they often use to hunt the Monsters of their kind.
Rank 2 creatures are the original creatures previously known as Demons or Spirits according to Old Earth mythologists. They are the "common" creatures around the new world; Creatures that are somewhat tamable to use for livestock, pet or entertainment. One can think of some as the old world animals- such as lions and horses – in a chimera-like form. For example: Liore males are pure white lion-type creatures with enormous white horse hooves replacing their claws and two foot-long saber teeth extend past their jaws. Females appear to have dark red to black coats with nine inch fan-like ears on top of their head for better hunting and tend to "howl" as a wolf would as communication – but in a high pitch whiny a horse would use.
The last and rarest of the creatures are called Ferius's. These creatures have been around since the Beginning of time. Ferius's are decidedly less dangerous then their adult counterparts, not growing into their more deadly attributes until they were fully mature. Their loyalty is ridiculously hard to gain, but once acquired it is impossible to break. They are ruled by their instinct to survive or protect; something that will never break – a Bond that ties the soul. These creatures haven't been sighted since the war broke out – for there where only Nine of the creatures originally. Many call these creatures the Tailed Beasts, for after each of these nine die, they take on a form based solely on Chakra and then seal themselves into their family. And there, before the two powerful Fera's; is the first Ferius known to survive the purge 50 years ago.
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