A/N) I thank all of you for your support, this story is something that I really do care about and if I abandon this I wouldn't be able to face myself for a long time.
The support you give really does mean something. I hope you realise that too. Sometimes a simple message of reassurance is all it takes to help. Thanks.
I use a little Japanese to substitute some nouns. Reason being that I want to try and keep some of the original feel.
By the way, I know my folklore so I'll tell you guys now that phoenixes in my story don't exactly follow folklore. I changed many things…
Disclaimer: I hereby claim that I the author of the fanfic below do not in any shape or form own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, Rosario + Vampire and Rosario + Vampire capu2. However the ideas and storyline are mine.
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Chapter 2: Meetings of chance
"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."
― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
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"Wake up." It was faint to him as he floated in a weightless world. It came again, and the world merely shook.
"Wake UP!" this time his world cracked and his eyes reopened to greet the world, but the world was a different one to his eyes. White specks were flying past him, some slow and some fast. More surprising was that the world was covered in a blanket of white.
He got no more than a few more seconds before the odd sensation of something tugging on his consciousness overcame him and his world changed once more. This time he found himself in a dark and damp place. Lifting himself up from the ankle-deep water he took in his surroundings.
'Did they throw me into a sewer again?' It was the first thought that went through his mind. However he soon realised something, he was still 'awake'. His memories of the recent past suddenly came rushing back.
"What happened?" he asked aloud as he surveyed his own body. Squeezing his own hand experimentally he tested his own body freely. Breathing in a large breath he held it…before releasing it in one go. He definitely felt different, not just his body but his mind too. He found himself taking in numerous details while simultaneously analysing every little bit of information. It felt almost surreal.
Everything looked like the normal sewer, but his eyes had noted the pipe above which emitted a faint red glow. It pulsed. He blinked.
'Am I dreaming?'
It pulsed again and this time it seemed to be slower. He blinked again.
Then now the part of the pipe directly above him glowed brighter, before the glow began slowing moving forward. Then it went back to him again before repeating its movement.
'Is it…asking me to follow?' He looked at it with suspicion. Normally he would have simply followed it but now, now he wasn't trapped by his usual clueless self, he wasn't asleep. Yet something was different, he couldn't explain it but his mind didn't feel like how it usually did. In fact the closest he could get at explaining it was an odd sensation of things coming into place.
'Maybe that's why I'm suddenly so observant…'
Soon enough he came to a conclusion, he would follow the light, if only to see where it would lead him for he failed to find any other alternative apart from getting lost in the surely twisting tunnels.
He was led down a few turns but he had easily kept a mental lock on his location as he formed a map in his mind that expanded as he moved. Soon he figured out his destination, as an exit revealed itself. Behind it light streamed through to him while a feeling of power leaked toward him. The glow above him sped toward the entrance and disappeared into the curtain of light.
Warily he followed. He quickly noted how his eyes had oddly almost instantly adjusted themselves to the brightness. He started to pick out details as soon as they made themselves known to him. The large metal cage that took up most of the large room was extremely obvious. What piqued his interest was how high it extended, for he couldn't see the ceiling. However more of his attention was drawn to the large cage. After all, what kind of being would require a cage large enough to trap a mountain?
His question as quickly answered the second a gigantic snout exited the shadows that shrouded the back of the cave. Naruto though, made no visible reaction as his mind focused on connecting several dots to questions that he had always wanted the answers to. The fact that there was a Bijuu in front of him barely even registered.
The older being however wasn't too fond of being ignored. He released an earth-shattering growl that made the water ripple violently. Naruto's attention was easily caught by him.
"I didn't bring you here to daydream."
"I…" With his thoughts in a mess, it was all he could say.
"Have you figured out why they hate you now?"
Naruto let his arms fall as he looked up at the fox with no small amount of annoyance. "Yes." He didn't know why, but an entirely foreign feeling was possessing him. It made him want to destroy something, to kill someone…
"What's this feeling? It's overwhelming, making my thoughts cloudy…I feel this urge to make someone suffer…" his words started normally, before it reduced to a whisper and ended with a harsh breath.
The Kyubi's eyes narrowed at the boy. "It's rage."
"Rage?" Naruto asked as he paid the fox attention, his calculating yet confused eyes almost made the fox shiver.
"You had seals placed on you as a baby, they were designed to keep you stupid and loyal to that village of meat bags, one of those ways by which it did it was to seal off any rage or anger you could have felt against them." The fox sneered at the end as his own anger demanded he kill those humans who dared to do such things.
"Those seals had also made your mind weak and underdeveloped. Such that when you started developing a mask to hide from all the abuse you suffered daily it blurred into your real personality and sent your real mind into a dormant state." Naruto's eyes widened.
'That…that explains so much…' Naruto thought. His momentary days of clarity when he was in extreme danger. Him viewing his 'normal'-self fading away and a sense of correctness flooding him then.
He had seen people mad before, as anger flushed their faces red but he himself had never felt it.
The Kyubi's eyes widened slightly as he braced himself against the explosion, the sheer amount of rage the boy was giving off…it was close enough to match his on his worst days.
'Looks like my senses weren't off. Not one bit.' Kyubi had been sceptical when he had sensed the presence of one of them, they hadn't been around for eons. Though it wasn't the pure emotion the boy leaked, but rather the obvious presence of an ancient energy that accompanied the emotional outburst. The sheer power they had wielded, even if just in his memories were enough to make him shiver as the boy before him gave off a similar kind of power.
"Don't let it control you hatchling." His voice echoed off the walls around them.
Naruto didn't listen, it wasn't possible. This was the first time he had ever felt any anger of any kind and it was simply overwhelming, it suffocated his rational thinking as his fists tightened enough to draw blood.
With a swipe of his tails Kyubi sent a wave of water at the boy. Who stewing in his fear failed to notice the approaching wave.
"Hey!" His anger was literally washed away despite his indignant response as he focused on the fox that had soaked him. Though the second his eyes met the fox's he seemed to realise what he had been doing.
"Sorry."
Regardless of the circumstance, that made the Kyubi reel back from shock. This was the first jailer he had that ever apologised to him for anything, it didn't matter that this one wasn't exactly human. Every host that he had been in till now was more than happy to simply blame him for everything.
"Do you blame me for how your childhood has been?" This single question would determine what he would do.
Naruto seemed to think for a moment as he looked at the gigantic red fox.
"Unless you attacked for no reason at all or a really stupid one, no. It wouldn't be fair to blame you for what they choose to do." His usual self might have probably said everything was the Kyubi's fault, but he wouldn't – He'd be no different otherwise.
That allowed the fox to breathe a breath of relief. The edges of his lips tugged as faint hints of a smile. A bright light suddenly covered his form as he shifted. Soon he was walking on two feet.
"My name is Kurama, and we have a lot to talk about Naruto." A man with red hair that was tied into a single pony tail walked through the bars of the cage. His nine tails flowed majestically behind him while he wore a loose-fitting shirt and a pair of army pants. By his waist was a sword with a brown hilt and around his left wrist was band that bore an ancient symbol – a phoenix with a whirlpool background.
Sensing his jailer's question he answered it automatically.
"This is my preferred form and as for those bars, they will let me through as long as they don't sense any ill intent from me that is directed toward you."
Kurama's body seemed like it was sculpted out of marble as his muscles moved with his body elegantly. He exuded an aura of nobility but under it was an undertone of a seasoned killer that had seen too much.
As Kurama reached the boy, a loud shaking suddenly ripped through the sewer. He cursed. It was only made worse as the boy in front of him suddenly fell. Rushing forward he caught the boy before he dashed back into his cage. In his cage, he had some power.
Imagining a simple bed, he placed Naruto onto it. Beside him he placed his hand over Naruto's forehead. Kurama focused his energy into his hand, and within a second he had formed a link.
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His eyes snapped open. Immediately he took stock of his condition. It was no wonder to Kurama why the boy had fainted, apart from the boy's head everything was covered in snow. With as much youki as he could safely channel, he released a burst of fire that melted the snow. While it had the unfortunate side effect of burning his host's clothes it was all he could do to prevent the boy from suffering hypothermia. Swirling small amounts of youki within the boy's body he warmed vital organs and kept his limbs functional.
Then he weakly pulled the body onto its feet.
'It was a miracle he even lasted that long, he landed in a frozen wasteland of all places. Guess even this lucky bastard's luck can run out sometimes.' He survey the area, but all he could make out was snow, snow in every single direction for as far as his eyes could see.
Noting that he was on a mountain, he started his ancient duty to keep the boy alive. Spreading his senses as much as he could while limited by the frail body he was using wasn't easy, but he still managed to pick out two nearby signatures that were close to each other.
Immediately he turned to head towards them. His ability to sense negative emotions easily told him that those two wouldn't harm without reason and that was all that he had for the moment.
Within ten minutes of climbing up the mountain he cursed again. Annoyingly when he had connected to his host's body to guide it, the feelings of fatigue and pain had also decided to tag along. To make it worse, the last time he had felt tired from walking was when he was seven! Letting out an irritated growl he pushed forward.
'A bit more…' His breathing was laboured as the body he was using started to give out on him. His limbs felt like they were made of lead and every step he took seemed to take every bit of energy he had. There was only so much youki he could push through the seal before the limiter kicked in.
Kyubi could only hope that they would detect him as he sent out his last attempt to save the boy. Amassing all the youki he could without harming his host, he shot it out of the boy's mouth. The ball of youki went straight up into the sky before a line of red hot energy shot out from it toward the direction of the two that he had sensed.
Below the red orb, lied Naruto's unconscious body.
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Tsurara Shirayuki and Mizore Shirayuki sat together on a simple blue mat as they slowly ate shaved ice. They watched the horizon quietly enjoying the peace they had. The mountain range in front of them made for a very nice landscape, on one of the mountains was the village they lived in. They themselves were on a mountain, near the peak on a wide expanse of flattish land. Despite the snow-capped mountain they both only wore simple white kimonos. Tsurara's kimono which had a violet-blue line running through the collar was held together with a violet obiage[2], a Byzantium[1] obi[3] and an indigo obi-jime[4]. Mizore's kimono only extended to her knees and had a red-violet collar with a similar coloured simple obi holding it together. They welcomed the cold as they let the peace and tranquillity sooth them.
This was their secret spot, no one else knew of it and they liked it that way. Or rather, it was because of Mizore. She never said a thing to her mother, but Tsurara knew she was always more comfortable here, not her room, not their house and sadly not their village. Definitely not their village…
It saddened her, the fact that her daughter held some resentment and hate toward the village, but she knew why. Mizore had no friends her age in the village and even some, heck most of the adults were wary of her. Had it simply been because of Mizore's different personality she might have had an easier time helping her daughter, but when even adults in the village shunned her daughter for developing her abilities far sooner than they usually do there was only so much she could do, even less when they told their children to stay away from her daughter. Sure they respected her, being one of the more influential people of the village, but it was a whole different story when it came to her daughter. She wouldn't even have believed that people were capable of behaving so drastically different had she not seen it first-hand. She suppressed the small frown that threatened to show from her worry for her daughter's future, especially when the time came where Mizore turned of age.
Her senses suddenly blared at her before a line of bright red youki that simply blinded her senses suddenly appeared in the sky in front of them. Suddenly it stopped and for a few seconds it merely hung in the sky as a red line that almost looked solid.
As she quickly got Mizore onto her feet the end of line suddenly burst. Bringing the sleeve of her kimono she wrapped herself around Mizore as she squeezed her eyes shut.
Though…the pain never came. "Haha(mother), what are you doing?" Mizore's muffled voice tinged with worry came from within the folds of her kimono.
Slowly unwrapping herself she turned to face the oddity that hung in the air. There were numerous symbols that she had never seen before, 救命, Hilfe, Bantuan, Auxilium, were but a few of the hundreds before her eyes. As she scanned through them her eyes eventually landed on one she recognised, 救助(きゅうじょ)[7].
'Help…' she said aloud in her mind. Apparently whoever had managed to send something like this was asking for help…
Gently patting her daughter on the head she got Mizore to relax as her bright blue eyes looked curiously, at her and at the words that were spelt in the sky. Settling her own nerves she pulsed her youki outwards. Tracking the line that blared like a permanent bolt of lightning on her senses she eventually reached the end of it. Sharpening her senses to focus on other senses at the area she picked up a small blip that was quickly fading.
She didn't bother thinking too long over it, she would help whoever had asked for it even if only to figure out what could have sent such a focused line of youki-the amount of control needed to sustain such a thing was simply ludicrous. Even now the line hadn't disappeared.
"Looks like we're going on a rescue mission Mizore. Pay close attention to how I handle it okay dear?" her daughter's eyes flashed from the words that were held in the sky to hers, a curious sparkle glinted in her eyes. Smiling gently she lifted her daughter up as she made a snow sled. Climbing onto it she set her daughter down.
"Hold very tightly musume(daughter)." Normally she wouldn't try to go ask fast as possible, but by the way the signature she had locked on to was fading she only had a few minutes. With a great deal of focus she sunk her control over snow and ice into their surroundings. Mizore's eyes widened as she sensed the amount of power her mother was going to use, entering a partial transformation she sunk her ice claws into the sled to secure herself. Just in time too.
With a powerful tug Tsurara launched the snow sled at breakneck speeds down the hill. Mizore had expected a madwoman frantically trying to control the craft, but as she looked at her mother she could only stare in awe as her mother moved as elegantly as she always did. It was like a beautiful dance as her mother hands' swayed from side to side, front and back, as the craft continued gaining speed.
Within a minute they had covered enough distance for Tsurara to mentally note her breaking her own personal speed record by two times. With the target a mere 100 metres ahead she tightened her grip onto the snow around them, soon Mizore was jerked roughly as her mother's hand suddenly stiffened and twisted. Their craft came to a skidding stop in three seconds. With an advanced technique Tsurara held the blinding blizzard away from the area as she forced the snow to bend in a circle around them. It was tiring and she wouldn't be able to sustain it for too long.
Sliding off her sled, she approached what her senses had locked onto five minutes ago. The red line still clear above them. Oddly enough when the boy's body was clearly within her vision, did the line then dissipate.
Deciding to ask that later she kneeled beside the boy who was partially buried in the snow.
A small frown made a way to her face as she sensed the boy's energy signature.
'Fire…' the heat of the boy's power was obvious to her cold powers. It didn't make any sense to her. She couldn't understand how a fire youkai (monster) had somehow made it this deep within the range of mountains. The cold would have killed every fire youkai she knew if they had come unprotected from the elements.
Her daughter however had different reactions as she saw the boy that she also immediately recognised as a person not from her cold village. A blush spread on her face as Mizore noted the boy's lack of clothing. Add in the fact that this was the first time she had seen a boy nude much less a boy her age… Curiosity was a rather powerful incentive, but it paled in comparison to the hope that had sprouted within her heart – He wasn't from her village, and he wouldn't know about her powers. He wouldn't have a reason to fear her. She'd finally be able to make a friend…
"Help me with him musume." Lifting one of the boy's arms she handed the other to her daughter, who had had a distant look in her eyes. Disregarding that though, she mentally noted that the boy's skin felt warmer than a human's. She mentally slapped herself for her momentary stupidity, he probably wasn't one anyway with how he had managed to construct such a solid line of youki. Tentatively Mizore reached out to grab his arm before slinging it over her shoulder. Together they lifted the boy onto the sled, but to Tsurara's shock a hole the shape of the boy formed within the minute he was placed onto it. Her daughter though quickly pulled the boy back up, and considering that they were both merely eight it made for quite the sight as she struggled to balance the boy's weight.
Tsurara though was instead focusing her senses on the boy as she tried to get a better read on the boy's energy signature. It felt weak and there was a hint of fire, but he had so little energy, merely slivers of it that it shouldn't have mattered. Her eyes narrowed on him, it was the first time she had ever seen anyone passively melt her ice and considering that she typically made her sleds out of ice dense enough to withstand a head on collision with a boulder…it didn't add up in her head at all.
As she spared a look at her daughter, it made even less sense as her daughter didn't show any signs that the boy was too warm, especially since she had managed to get the boy onto her back.
Deciding to think about all of these later, she placed her hand on the edge of the sled and focused. In mere seconds the hole was fixed, in another minute she had reinforced the sled by condensing her ice as much as she could while holding the blizzard around them back. With a shaky breath she signalled for her daughter to get back onto the sled.
She couldn't help but let out a soft muffled laugh as she looked at how her daughter awkwardly tried to get both herself and him onto the sled. How her daughter's face would contort to express annoyance when she slipped before it finally showed accomplishment and satisfaction when she managed the two of them onto the sled. Her daughter seemed to fit perfectly in the odd scene. A budding hope spawned in her heart, maybe…just maybe, what the village couldn't give her daughter this boy could.
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Two small red birds circled around what used to be a third of Konoha. They weren't ordinary birds, far from it. Both of them possessed immense power, possibly more than every ninja in the shinobi world combined.
The crater was huge, it expanded at least 10 metres down. Surrounding the crater on one side was forest, on the other Konoha. Apparently the edge of the crater was a mere 5 metres from the Hokage tower. On the side of the village though it appeared that the village had erected a stone wall to form a temporary perimeter for what was left of the village. Done looking around they slowly neared the centre of the explosion. Where the residual energy was strongest. While the energy signatures emitted from the area would perturb most people, being slightly over 1.8 millennium years old had its advantages, such as a vast expanse of knowledge which allowed them to easily recognise what was going on.
'This energy is similar yet different at the same time.' was the analytical thought of one of the beings donning a façade of a bird.
'Looks like the huge release of energy also ripped a hole between two dimensions, I can feel the distorted nature energy.' They concluded as they spotted signs that a dimensional rift had appeared there. After memorising the residual energy's signature they flew off. To a location that would be safer for what they were about to attempt.
A small sliver shimmered in the sky and the two birds bulleted into it.
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Back at their home, they were in their humanoid forms as they went about setting up numerous seals and switches. Going to the lowest level they entered an ordinary looking room. Although on closer inspection one would find invisible seals on the walls of the room. Reinforcing the room beyond what materials alone could do. Before they started though they went to another room, also similarly reinforced.
Together they looked longingly. "We'll be back soon musume." Then they left the room which contained an egg, their daughter. It would be a few more years before she was reborn and this would be the first time in a long time they were leaving her alone.
With that they entered and sealed off the room that they were about to open a stable dimensional rift in. A massive energy surge flooded the room, but the seals did their job and contained the surge, they lit up with a dull green colour indicating that they were barely strained. Soon a stable rift was in front of them, framed by a wooden door. With that they entered the rift and the door closed behind them.
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On a snowy mountain two ancient beings of long forgotten power stepped into the dimension. A small yellow glow coated them as snow pelted their forms. Yet none actually contacted them as every piece of ice evaporated upon reaching a centimetre of them.
"Never liked cold places much." Kazeshi whispered as a shiver ran through his body.
Beside him a soft giggle reached his ears as Miyuki found his grumbling amusing. Increasing his power output Kazeshi extended his fiery aura out by a few metres for a second to gain relief from the cold, no matter how small. He was fully aware of the fact that they were on the side of a mountain and any more he did would likely cause the rest of the snow above them to fall. Besides while he could escape the snow, he wasn't too sure about escaping the wrath of his wife…
"Quite the party here in this world." Miyuki said, hitching an eyebrow he spread his senses out. He detected a barrier that hid numerous youkai within while the air itself held a far higher mix of youki that most worlds and the one that really got his interest was the trace remnants of energy from a Bijuu.
That was really odd, for Bijuu while powerful always had problems with moving across worlds as their energies tended to tie the Bijuu down to a few specific worlds and Makai. From what he remembered, the world they were in had no natural Bijuus.
Unless one magically spawned in the last few decades ago, something was wrong. Seriousness crept into his voice.
"We had better find whoever gave out that energy quickly, if he or she is one of us this weather will be rather troublesome. Not to mention all the other youkai this world houses." Miyuki was already halfway through her transformation as she angled her flight path to reach a nearby human settlement.
They were already working under the assumption that whoever they were searching for was in trouble, for the energy signature of any being that was capable of releasing such a large amount that they felt it across worlds didn't just disappear. To add to their concern was the fact that the energy had felt so familiar to their own and hence their bodies should have had an easier time tracking it. The only possible reason that they couldn't detect anything at all was a simple one - whoever it was, was in dire trouble.
One red bird in the sky split into two, then four, then eight and it continued duplicating until they numbered in the hundreds. Fire clones of Miyuki soared in every direction, each heading to separate settlements. They were created with specific orders, search and recover. Should they find nothing after three days they were to return to their original point and dispel.
Kazeshi was responsible for the other part of the search. With a brief moment of focus he created hundreds of fire clones with similar orders to Miyuki's. In mere seconds they split up in every direction as they searched the ground through the blinding blizzard.
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A/N) It was painful…labelling the stuff and matching the colours…
[1]: Byzantium: This is a shade of violet.
[2]: 'obiage'. It's a bustle sash above the obi holding the kimono together.
[3]: 'obi'. It's the main sash holding the kimono together. That big one.
[4]: 'obi-jime'. It's a small string knotted at the front that holds the 'obi' together.
[5]: cryokinesis means control over ice.
[6]: 'tenshi' means angel in Japanese.
[7]: '救助(きゅうじょ)' in case you want to know how to pronounce this, in romanji(English characters basically) its 'kyuujo'. BTW, if you know Japanese, would 助け(たすけ) have been better?
