Vulpes Alveus

by Kitsune-242

A war is approaching. No human, demon, or Soul Reaper can stop it. Only two have the power to prevent the war. But how will they prevent a war, when they don't even get along well? The war of Heaven and Hell is coming fast...and they don't even know it.

2. Convulsus Os

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach. Well…here's the second chapter. I don't have much to say, really. Oh! Except one thing! My laptop is still freaking broken…I'll tell you when I fix it. Another thing, is that I got the word for water wrong. Apparently, 'Unda' is Wave, and 'Aqua' is water. From now on, I'll be using Aqua for water. (Seriously, all this Latin crap is hard, especially when you have to use a crappy Latin translator off of Google!). Thank you, Anake14 for pointing out the mistake, and for informing me what the correct Latin word was. Thank you!

Lastly…yes…I'm still using Latin in here…so sorry for those who don't know what the hell I'm saying, it's giving me a sense of secrecy…and teaching me a new language while I'm at it!

One more thing! School's finally out for the summer, on June 8th. I was going to have a party to celebrate, but it started raining…screw mother nature. That's the only reason why this chapter is up. But instead of celebrating with a belated-party, I decided to make this chapter extra-long. Your welcome.

Word Count: 14,983
Page Count: 2-frickin'-7

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Chapter 2
Convulsus Os

:Dreamscape:

Naruto blinked, everything in front of him hazy. In front of him was a large field filled with grass that came up to his furry orange chest, with a large lake off to his left. An unusually large weeping willow hung over the lake, its long, whip-like branches gently brushing the surface of the water. The sky was perfect and blue, with large fluffy white clouds dotting it. The field seemed to stretch on forever, besides the large mountain that was on the far side of the lake, with a large waterfall that fed the lake an endless supply of water. Naruto blinked again. Three figures were standing at the top of the mountain, their bodies outlined by the bright sun that was behind them. Naruto opened his mouth to call out to them, but then stopped. The sky was slowly beginning to burn to a blood-red color, and the sun was shrinking, until it exploded outwards in a flurry of heat and flames. Slowly, from where the sun had exploded, a dark black hole began to expand, and out of the new black hole, came a horde of demons of all sizes, colors, breeds, and tails. They rained down to the earth, and landed with heavy crunches. Naruto froze as the many demons marched forwards at a brisk pace. He followed their path with their eyes, to where a large human settlement that resembled Karakura stood.

The demons snarled and snapped, roared and slashed, all the while getting closer and closer to the Karakura-look-alike. A line of demons, most of them small and weak compared to the other side, stood in front of the human city, with a mixture of humans with strange abilities and Soul Reapers standing among them. Naruto squinted. There was something that looked familiar…was that Ichigo and Rukia standing with the demons that were defending the Karakura-look-alike? Naruto looked back to the pure-demon side, and stared at the large leader. It was a giant orange fox, with nine orange tails surrounded by flames, and wings made of flames on its back. Its purple eyes were slowly bleeding red, and its golden irises were beginning to turn to black slits. The leader roared, and the demonic side charged. The other side charged as well, and clashed with the demon side. Humans, demons, and Soul Reapers fell…but they were all from the side guarding the city. Flames devoured the field in front of Naruto, and lightening flashed in the sky as Thunderbirds screeched to release their power. Naruto gasped. Thunderbirds, the helpers of Rokubi no Raijuu, the Six-Tailed Weasel Demon, and Lord of all Weasel demons, were only called upon in times of war.

Naruto flinched as the entire protecting side was slaughtered, and then flinched again as the city burned. Naruto walked through the carnage, looking at all of the dead bodies. Suddenly, something pierced his chest. Naruto looked down. A thick blade stuck from his chest. Naruto looked to the owner of the blade. It was…Urahara? Blood was spilling from the corners of his mouth, and a large claw that had snapped off of a dog demon was protruding from his back, pinning him to the ground. Naruto's eyes widened as blood began to fill his mouth. "I cant believe this…we sheltered you, cared for you, trusted you, even though you were a demon…and this is how you repay us…you get your demonic legions to attack the earth to destroy it!" Urahara spat, spitting globs of blood and saliva all over the ground. "You were supposed to be one of the saviors, working with the God of Heaven to prevent this war! Not be the one who brought it about!" Urahara's eyes began to dim, and Naruto dropped onto this side on the ground, feeling blood of many protectors seep through his fur, and soak his skin. Explosions and flames shouted loudly around them, but Naruto could still hear Urahara's last words. "Well, I'm glad that I was at least able to stop you…damn you, Kyuubi!" And then Urahara was gone, his head dropped back into the bloody dirt.

Naruto's vision began to blur and fade, but he heard that demonic voice clearly in his ears. "You will bring this. You can not stop it. You were born for this single purpose…you were supposed to be the savior of the words…but you will be the destroyer. It is your destiny. You will bring this upon the world!" Naruto's sight finally collapsed in on itself, and then everything was just…gone.

:::Outside World:::

Naruto's eyes flew open, and he shot to his paws. He looked around. He was in…some bedroom. Naruto looked down to his chest; no sword, and no hole. Was that really just a dream? Naruto thought with shock. It felt so real!Naruto added, before looking around. His left front leg was wrapped in bandages with a splint keeping it steady, and white bandages were wrapped around the last section of his tail. Naruto's fur bristled. This wasn't Urahara Shoten…and he didn't know of any place like this…where was this? The door to the room opened, and Ichigo and Rukia walked in. "Hey. He finally woke up." Ichigo said smartly. Rukia raced into the room, and knelt down next to Naruto, interest in her eyes.

"Are you alright? Are you hurting anywhere?" She asked quickly.

"I feel fine." Naruto muttered. "Where is this place?"

"My house." Ichigo responded. "You somehow took care of a Hollow in the park before I could get there, and then just blacked out. It looked like you did, but when Rukia tried to pick you up, you went crazy, like you snapped or something. I had to break your leg to get you to stop. Not even that worked…but apparently stepping on your tail did. Sorry, by the way." Naruto blinked.

"…what?" He asked brilliantly. I went crazy? …must have been about the dream…yeah, that was weird… Naruto thought. "Sorry." Naruto said. "Panicked. And sorry for the trouble."

"It was no problem. Dad and my sisters didn't really care. In fact, I'm pretty sure they were excited to help treat a fox…at least my sisters were ecstatic..." Ichigo said, then paled as a memory played back through his mind.

:Flashback:

Ichigo sighed as he kicked open the door to his house, an unconscious fox in his arms. "Hey dad, I have a…patient for you…" Ichigo said, slightly uncertain. Isshin came flying around a corner, boxing gloves on his hands.

"ICHIGO! I'M SO GLAD THAT YOU'RE HOME, MY SON, AND-is that a fox?" Isshin said, the gloves somehow vanishing from his fists.

"Uh…yeah?" Ichigo responded confusedly.

"Well…why in the hell are you carrying a fox around with you…I'm pretty sure that's illegal…" Sparkles seemed to surround Isshin as a strange expression crossed his face. "But that doesn't matter, my son! We shall keep this fox, and I shall help you in your illegal ways, and we shall rob Karakura Bank-"

"DAD! I BROUGHT THE DAMN FOX HOME BECAUSE IT'S LEG IS BROKEN!" Ichigo yelled, effectively shutting his dad up. But not his little sisters.

"Fox? Where's a fox? Fluffy wuffy wittle foxy-woxy!" Yuzu laughed insanely. Karin just pet the fox's orange head, then grinned.

"Fluffy wuffy wittly foxy-woxy stew…" She said. Ichigo's eyes widened, and he edged away from his family while they all ranted to one another about their separate topics.

"I think I'd have more progress with a headless otter…" Ichigo said, and quickly made his way up to his room. "I'll do it myself then…"

:End Flashback:

"…okay…so they weren't exactly ecstatic to help you…more like ecstatic for their own reasons…" Ichigo said, still pale. Naruto mentally chuckled at the idea of what might have happened.

"How long have I been here, exactly?" Naruto asked curiously.

"About three days." Ichigo responded. Naruto's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" Naruto asked. Ichigo nodded, and Rukia raised a confused eyebrow.

"Why?" She asked.

"I heal unnaturally fast, even compared to any other demon around…something that would take me a week would only take me about three or four days. Something that could kill another demon would only take me half a lifetime(About 500 years) to heal…which is still pretty long by my count. With something like this…I should have woken up a long time ago." Naruto growled.

"Well, it's still pretty impressive, since after my dad came back to his senses, said that you probably wouldn't wake up for six days, considering the amount of anesthetic we had to give you to keep you still when we were trying to bandage you up." Ichigo muttered.

"Sorry for that to." Naruto muttered in response. The two looked at each other, then look away, looks of annoyance on their faces. Rukia blinked with wide eyes.

"…you guys could be like cousins, if it wasn't for the entire species thing…" Rukia said.

"I am nothing like him at all!" Naruto and Ichigo shouted in unison, pointing either with a hand or a paw at the person opposite from them. Rukia sweat-dropped, but didn't say anything.

"Can I leave now, please?" Naruto asked.

"You can leave when your leg is healed." Ichigo responded, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

"It is." Naruto deadpanned.

"Prove it." Ichigo demanded. Naruto jumped to the ground…and fell flat on his chest. He lifted his body up, and looked at his splinted leg. "See?" Ichigo asked.

"…that was certainly…odd…" Naruto thought out loud, and then punched the ground with his paw. His fur bristled, and he cradled his hurt leg with his other front leg. "Ooooouuuuuuch…" Naruto moaned, rubbing his broken leg.

"And my point is proven yet again." Ichigo said with superiority lacing his words. Naruto looked up at the taller human, and then stood up on his hind paws. When he did this, his head came up to about Ichigo's shoulder, contrary to when his head came up to his waist before. Ichigo gaped, and Rukia fell backwards onto Ichigo's bed.

"I can just walk back to Urahara Shoten like a human." Naruto said, his tail flicking angrily behind him. He looked mostly human…if you looked past the fox features, and his front legs, which were bent up against his chest in a reflex to standing up, and not having to use them. He began to walk towards Ichigo's door, when Ichigo cleared his throat. Naruto looked over his shoulder. "What?" He asked.

"Don't you think it'd be weird to see an injured fox walking down the road as if it was a human?" Ichigo asked. Naruto blinked, and looked off into empty space. He did have a point. Naruto growled, and turned back around.

"Well, I don't want to stay here." Naruto muttered through his fangs.

"You don't have to. Just wait until you're more healed, and don't have to walk on two legs around outside to move around." Ichigo responded. Naruto glanced towards the window. "And don't think about jumping out the window. Rukia's apparently pretty good at putting up barriers." Ichigo said. Naruto glared hatefully at the boy, but walked back further into the room. He rubbed the back of his furry head, sighing.

"I guess I have to stay…" He grumbled.

"You know…when you do that…you look almost human." Rukia said. Naruto glared, and dropped back onto his three paws, keeping his fourth paw off the ground.

"That's obvious." Naruto mumbled. "Powerful demons can sometimes transform into a humanoid form." Naruto said a little louder.

"Really?" Rukia asked. "Can you?"

"Maybe." Naruto responded, raising an eyebrow teasingly. Rukia huffed with frustration, and Naruto mentally grinned. He loved causing problems.

"Then why don't you transform into a human? I'd make staying here a little easier." Ichigo said. Naruto looked to the side, his ears twisting around backwards on top of his head.

"…I don't exactly like morphing into a human…" Naruto muttered.

"Why not?" Rukia asked.

"I said before, and I wasn't just saying it to say it. Humans and me is always Childhood Trauma." Naruto answered.

"Why?" The raven-haired Soul Reaper questioned.

"You have a lot of questions, you know that?" Naruto barked, and Rukia grinned. "And I have the right to have secrets, this being one of them. Sorry, but I cant tell you. And I don't want to morph into human form. One, it takes a lot of energy, two, it's mighty painful, and three…I hate looking human." Naruto responded. He yawned widely. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep."

:::The Next Day::;

"Can I go home yet?" Naruto asked around mid-afternoon the next day. Ichigo looked up from the homework that he was working on. Honestly, who assigned fifteen pages for an essay a few weeks before summer vacation? They were supposed to be winding down.

"Let me check your leg." Ichigo said, turning around. Naruto jumped up onto Ichigo's bed, and leapt over Rukia while she lay upside-down on the bed, scribbling pictures on her own homework. Ichigo carefully unwrapped Naruto's front leg, and carefully inspected it, bending it and twisting it. He sighed with disbelief. "I cant believe it. It's already healed." Ichigo said with slight shock.

"Mmhm." Naruto said shortly, pulling his leg back to his body. "So can I go? Urahara's probably scared shitless." Naruto said. Ichigo nodded.

"Yeah, you can go." Ichigo said. Naruto nodded, and turned to the window.

"Oh…and about your sisters…just tell them their 'little foxy woxy didn't want to be made into stew so he ran away.'." Naruto said. Ichigo blinked with wide eyes. "I heard your sisters when you brought me here." Naruto deadpanned.

"Ah." Ichigo said, nodding briefly. Naruto nodded his head in thanks, and leapt out the open window. Naruto smiled with satisfaction as his leg didn't throb when he landed heavily on it.

That's a good sign. Naruto thought, and then trotted off, his tail waving. On his way back, he slowly to a stop, and stood in the middle of the empty street, letting the breeze make his fur rustle. That dream…it had seemed real...what did it mean? Was there going to be betrayal? …was he going to betray them? It didn't matter to Naruto that much; he hated the human race as much as he hated being called a 'Dog-cat'. In fact…he hated it even more. There had to be something written inside that dream that he had had a while back. Was Urahara waiting to assassinate him back at the shop? No…he would have done that by now…why was he leading, by the looks of it anyway, an army against the army of humans? So many questions were going through Naruto's head…he felt like he might burst from trying to find an answer to them all. But what stood out in his mind like a sore thumb, was what the disembodied voice had said.

You will bring this. You can not stop it. You were born for this single purpose…you were supposed to be the savior of the words…but you will be the destroyer. It is your destiny. You will bring this upon the world!"

That obviously had a deep meaning to it…but Naruto was never known for being able to figure tough things out. Naruto sighed, and shook his head. He couldn't think about this now…he was a Vulpes, for Rutilus' sake! They weren't supposed to worry about the future! Only about the present and past. That's why Vulpes were known for their knowledge…and their trickster nature. Naruto trotted on, picking up his pace so he would get back to the shop. He didn't have a good feeling in his gut…like something big that would majorly impact his life was coming. "Great." Naruto rumbled. "Now I'm starting to sound like some great sap. Cassius had more of an effect on me then I thought." Naruto sighed, and turned the corner into the alley that help Urahara Shoten. He walked inside, sighing heavily once more. "I'm ho-" Naruto began, but was forced to stop as a foot whizzed over his head.

"YOU'RE FREAKING LATE!" Urahara shouted. "DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU! YOU RUN OFF TO FIGHT A HOLLOW, I FEEL SOME STRONG RIETSU FROM YOU, THEN YOU FREAKING VANISH! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO LOCK YOU AWAY AND NEVER LET YOU OUT AGAIN!

"How do you have half a mind to lock me away…when you only have half a mind? I'm pretty sure you lost that as well." Naruto said calmly, blinking up at the taller man.

"I still want to lock you away so you cant run off anymore…" Urahara grumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry. I blacked out, and I apparently received a broken leg and a trodden-on tail. Ichigo found me and brought me back to his house where he helped heal my leg and tail. I would have come back sooner, but he forbade me from leaving his house until I was completely healed." Naruto explained quickly. Urahara raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"…you got a boo-boo on your tail?" He asked, his cheeks puffing as he tried not to laugh. A vein bulged on Naruto's head, and his right eye started to twitch. "Because someone…stepped on it?" Urahara finally gave in, and fell over, laughing hard and loud, and holding his stomach as he rolled around.

"SHUT THE HELL UP! ICHIGO STEPPED ON MY TAIL, DAMN IT, AND YOU KNOW HOW CLUMSY HE IS! I'VE TALKED TO HIM FOR A TOTAL OF 12 HOURS AND I'M KNOWN HIM PERSONALLY FOR A TOTAL OF THREE DAYS, AND I CAN ALREADY TELL HE'S A CLUMSY PERSON, SO SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Naurto yelled, waving a clenched paw at Urahara.

"A demon was unconscious for days because someone stepped on his wittle tail! HA!" Urahara continued, appearing to not hear Naruto.

"You're a little shit, you know that?" Naruto grumbled. Urahara instantly stopped laughing, and looked to Naruto.

"Who crapped in your cheerios this morning?" Urahara asked. Naruto's eye twitched again, his anger twisting at the double insult. Not only did he hardly know what cheerios were in the first place…but Urahara also said that someone had 'crapped in his food'.

"I wasn't unconscious because of someone stepping on my tail, you idiot. And for your information, most Vulpes who have more than one elemental ability have one of their important elements in their tail. So of course it would hurt a lot. But that's not what knocked me out for so long. It was an overdose of anesthetic, so put those little thoughts about my tail doing me in for a while out of your head. And besides…considering what Ichigo said I did, that was the first time I had ever used anything like spiritual energy, so I have the right to be tired from first using, and first finding out I even freaking had it." Naruto said in a low voice.

"…oh…that changes a lot…" Urahara muttered, stroking his chin, then suddenly jumped. "Wait a second…I cant believe I just noticed this…but…you used rietsu." Urahara said.

"Yes, Urahara, I mentioned that before." Naruto sighed. A large grin spread across Urahara's face.

"Told you you had it."

"Shut up." Naruto grumbled, and marched towards his room in the back.

"You do realize that now I'll have to train you how to use it, don't you?" Urahara asked. Naruto flicked and ear absentmindedly, and glanced over his shoulder.

"Why is that?" He asked.

"Because if you don't," Urahara said seriously "then your rietsu will tear you apart from the inside out." The two exchanged glances of complete seriousness, before Naruto glared, and Urahara burst out laughing. "No, seriously. If you don't, then your rietsu will continuously attract Hollows to you, and, even if you are a Vulpes, a Hollow eventually will get the best of you, and you'll get killed. And have fun with that." Urahara said. Naruto sighed, and began to walk back to his room. But this time, he was the one who paused.

"Urahara…quick question…do you have a bad feeling about tonight?" Naruto asked. "Like…something terrible is going to happen?" Urahara sighed, then nodded.

"Remember how I told you that Rukia gave her powers to Ichigo?" Urahara asked. Naruto nodded, and looked to the ceiling.

"Come to think of it…she was acting kind of strange while I was at Ichigo's house…" Naruto mused to himself.

"Exactly. Doing something like what she did is illegal by Soul Society's standards. I knew, and she knew, that Soul Society would send someone to come get her, and bring her back to Soul Society." Urahara said.

"And then what will they do with her?" Naruto asked, expecting something like 'ban her from the human world' or 'take away her Zonpaktou for a month'.

"They will execute her."

:::That Night:::

"They're going to kill her?" Naruto thought out loud quietly as he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. "I cant believe they'd kill her for something like that…" Naruto sweat-dropped, and his face took on a comical look. "Not like I can talk…Vulpes kill Canis(1) and Lupus(2) demons when they steal food from our territory…" Naruto said, then laughed nervously. His stomach was slowly beginning to clench, as if something bad was happening, or going to happen. The air was getting heavy slightly, but then again, the air usually got heavy in Karakura Town. Naruto had always marked it off as something that happened in human settlements. It'd disappear eventually. True to his thoughts, a few minutes later, the weight disappeared, and all was calm again. Mostly. As it started to rain, Ururu opened the door to Naruto's room, stuttering her usual apology from behind her black bangs. Naruto rolled over, and stood up. "Does Urahara need me for something?" Naruto asked. Ururu nodded.

"He needs your help…down near the park." Ururu said. Naruto nodded.

"Alright. I'll head down there now." Naruto said. As he raced his way towards the park, thoughts began to drift through his head. Why is Urahara near the park at this time of night? Maybe it was a hollow…that weight was unusually high, even for a human settlement. Naruto thought, and rounded his corner. He paused when his feet hit thick water. Naruto's nose twitched. That's not water… Naruto looked down…and jumped away from the blood he had been standing in.

"Ah…Naruto…can you come here?" Urahara called from the shadows. Naruto carefully padded over, then froze at the brink of the shadowy darkness. Laying in the shadows, was a torn-apart Ichigo, and a slightly-battered boy with glasses. Urahara was hovering over Ichigo, a look of concern on his face. The glasses-bearing boy raised an eyebrow.

"A fox? What good will he do?" He asked. His question went unanswered.

"Naruto, can you come over here? I cant tell if Ichigo's good for transport back to the shop." Urahara said. Naruto cantered over, and quickly sniffed the largest wound on Ichigo's shoulder. Naruto looked to Urahara, and nodded his head. He glanced over to the glasses-wearing boy with slight concern. "Don't worry about Uryuu being here. He's a Quincy; I told you about them." Urahara said. Naruto nodded his head, releasing a sigh of relief. "I cant carry Ichigo without hurting him more…do you think you'd be able to grow larger and carry him?" Urahara asked. Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but Uryuu replied first.

"With all due respect, Mr. Urahara, he's a fox. They cant do much." Uryuu said. Naruto shot a piercing glare in the boy's direction, and nodded to Urahara.

"I'll do much more then that…" He muttered quietly to the man, and turned. He walked ten feet away, and Uryuu scoffed.

"See? You confused the poor creature. Now he's walking away." Naruto then turned back around, much to Uryuu's surprise…then began to glow. The aura surrounding him was golden in color, with wisps of orange rietsu mixed in. The air wasn't filled with familiar choking power of spiritual pressure; not much, anyway. The power in the air was more fearful, making all in the town have a sense of fear and insecurity.

The fur on Naruto's body bristled and became more hard and stiff, having the ability to pierce flesh if Naruto commanded it to. His spine cracked as it grew slightly longer, and then larger. His legs lengthened and grew more muscle, and his paws grew to a much larger size. His skull explanded, and his fangs grew so they protruded from his mouth. His ears grew larger, and his claws lengthened and thickened so they were constantly visible. He grew taller and larger, until he was four feet tall to the shoulder, and eight feet long (this is actually correct measurements comparisons for a fox, to…I should know, I did the math!). His white underbelly turned to a duller white, and the tip of his tail turned to purple once again. Finally, his single tail tore apart into four individual tails that grew back to the normal size of his first tail. Naruto slowly opened his eyes, and flicked an ear at Urahara's wide eyes, and the nearly-fainting expression Uryuu wore.

"This good enough?" Naruto asked casually, his voice slightly deeper from his wider chest. Urahara nodded hurriedly, then pulled up a cross. Naruto rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Urahara, I have known you for who-knows how long. It's not like I'm going to attack you."

"Well, I thought you'd just grow, like, you know, a few inches bigger, not a few feet!" Urahara yelled accusingly. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What? Did you think that Vulpes were really so small? This is still a small form to me, but we Vulpes usually stay this size in our Skulks (it's really a word, and that's really what a 'pack' of foxes is called.). If we went full size, humans would have found us years ago." Naruto said. He looked over to Uryuu. "We're not going to have any problem with him blabbing to anyone about this…" Naruto turned his head to Uryuu dramatically, and turned one large eye right next to him. "…right?" Naruto asked pointedly. Uryuu quickly shook his head.

"Uh huh, uh huh!" He responded frantically.

"Good. Urahara!" Naruto barked. "Is it safe to assume that the Soul Reapers came to retrieve Rukia?" Naruto asked. Urahara nodded grimly. "And the boy? He tried to help before Ichigo got here?" Naruto asked. Urahara nodded again. "And now I assume that Ichigo's going to want to go rescue her…the two should just date already…it's obvious they've got a 'thing' going on…" Naruto muttered to himself.

"Most likely. But why would you care?" Urahara asked. Naruto shrugged his massive, muscular shoulders.

"Dunno." He rumbled. He turned around, and scooped Ichigo's body up in his five tails carefully.

"Hey!" Uryuu yelled, lunging forward.

"Don't worry, you idiotic Quincy! This wont hurt him! It's the easiest way to carry him without hurting him!" Naruto snapped.

"…I thought touching a Vulpes' tail would curse you…" Urahara said. Naruto turned, and began to stalk off.

"Nope…" He responded. "That's only if you pull it. And Urahara, don't think about touching one of my tails, or pulling it. If you do, I'm going to rip your head off with the tail that you dared to touch."

:::A Few Days Later:::

Naruto watched with hardly any interest as Ichigo struggled to regain his Soul Reaper powers. Ever since he had first reverted to his demonic form, he had refused to transform back. It was way too uncomfortable, packing in something that was supposed to be around fifty feet tall into something that was only two feet tall. He just refused to do it. But to keep Ichigo…less stressed out, Urahara had ordered Naruto to keep out of sight. So now we find Naruto, sitting alone on top of a tall pillar of rocks, watching as Ichigo got the shit beat out of him by a littler 'timid' girl. Naruto sweat-dropped as he watched. …I probably wouldn't be doing to good, either, since I'd probably kill her if I fought back. Naruto sweat-dropped again as Ururu punched a rather large hole in the ground. …maybe… A black cat jumped up onto the pillar next to Naruto.

"So Urahara was right." The cat spoke. Naruto looked down to the cat, of which he towered far over. "There really is a Kitsune still alive." Naruto looked back to the small battle.

"Vulpes, Cattus, Vulpes." Naruto corrected.

"What'd you just call me?" The cat asked confusedly.

"Cattus. It's what we demons call cat demons. But we also call special cats that we highly respect 'Cattus'. Urahara's told me much about you…Yoruichi." Naruto said. The cat chuckled lightly in its masculine voice.

"So, Urahara told you about me. I'm so honored." The cat said. Naruto raised an eyebrow when he sensed no sarcasm in his words. "Do you also know that-"

"That you're a female? Yes, I know that to." Naruto responded offhandedly. "I also know that you and Urahara have been friends for hundreds of years, that you ran away from Soul Society because you were blamed for illegal experiments, and that you were a former Soul Reaper Captain…Squad 2, I think." Naruto added.

"…appears that I'm famous here." Yoruichi laughed.

"Nah. Urahara just likes to brag that he's got you as a friend." Naruto responded, and winced as Ichigo just barely missed a punch to the face. "…does this thing really work?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"How the hell should I know? He just came up with it last night." Naruto sweat-dropped, and palmed his forehead with his paw in exasperation. Yoruichi suddenly twitched. "…Hollow…" She muttered. Naruto swiveled an ear around, and listened to the high-pitched screams and stomping of the Hollow that was currently right next to Ichigo's school.

"Well aint that pretty." Naruto grumbled. Urahara appeared next to Naruto. The only reaction he got was a wave of one of Naruto's five tails.

"There's a Hollow-"

"I know that." Naruto muttered.

"…oh…good…that'll make this that much easier. Do you mind going to take care of it for me?" Urahara asked. Naruto stood up.

"I think you're just wanting me to break my leg again. I'm still not sure how I used that spirit crap the other day, Urahara." Naruto called as he began to stalk away.

"…well, figure it out!" Urahara yelled as Yoruichi jumped onto Naruto's back, meowing that she'd tag along to 'yell out pointers'. In Yoruichi-talk…it meant she was going to be rolling on the ground laughing as Naruto failed miserably at his task.

"Thank you, Urahara, for your deep-hearted concern." Naruto said. "…you ass."

:::Near Karakura High:::

Naruto walked after the lumbering Hollow, trying to remember how to use his rietsu (yes, I spell it wrong…trying to break the habit here!). Yoruichi was quietly laughing on Naruto's back, to which he'd occasionally 'flatten' her with his tail. He was counting his blessing that this road had been closed off because of the 'unknown explosions' that this Hollow was causing. Because of it, no humans were wandering the streets, allowing Naruto to be in whatever form he wanted, as long as he didn't tower over the buildings. But eventually a human Bomb Squad would come, ready to dismantle any of the other 'bombs', so he had to get his job done…and quick. The Hollows target: Karakura High. "Got any ideas, Foxface?" Yoruichi asked. Naruto twitched as one of his new apparent nicknames.

"No, I don't. I don't even know how to control my spiritual power…and my demonic chakra has basically no effect on this idiot…why don't you take care of it?" Naruto asked. "After all, you are a former Soul Reaper." Yoruichi rolled her eyes.

"No thanks!" She said cheerfully.

"Of course not…" Naruto sighed, and looked around, trying to find something that might give him an edge against the giant Hollow. Naruto once again counted his luck that no humans were on the street. Seeing a giant, orange Corsac* fox walking down the road with five tails would not sit well with anyone. It apparently didn't sit well with the Hollow, either, because once it spotted Naruto, it whirled around, and charged. Yoruichi hissed in shock, and leapt off Naruto's back. Naruto stood rooted to the spot, shocked as well. Not many creatures dared charge a Vulpes…the other night, he had already been high on adrenaline…but now, he was adrenaline-free. And it was not good.

Naruto just managed to jump out of the way, right as the claws of the hollow sheared off some of his fur from his right side. Naruto spun around, and looked to his side which was now missing a few centimeters of fur. A thin sheet of blood was running from a shallow slash that was coming from a shallow cut going from his right shoulder to his right hip. Naruto looked back to the Hollow, snarling. "Creatures inferior to me are not allowed to make me shed my own blood!" Naruto yelled with rage, and shot forward. He stuck his leg out, ready to slash the Hollow like he had done a few days ago…but he just hit the Hollow, and bounced off as if he was nothing but a feather. "What?" Naruto yelled with rage.

"Who's the inferior being, fox?" The Hollow yelled. "You cant even cut me!" Naruto's eyes flashed gold, and then he snarled loudly, the ground shaking as he released a quick blast of demonic Chakra.

"You cant cut him unless you have a Zonpaktou. How'd you defeat the Hollow before?" Yoruichi called from the sidelines.

"Shut up! You're not allowed to comment if you aren't the one fighting!" Naruto snarled.

"This is the great demon fox? They're nothing! You all should have stayed in the books, demon!" The Hollow launched forward, and slashed at Naruto's throat and chest. Naruto ducked, and jumped in the air. He tucked into a tight ball, and then pushed himself through the air with thin layers of Chakra, before crashing into the Hollow's head. Naruto shot backwards, performing a quick back-flip, and landed smoothly on his paws. The Hollow was slowly climbing back to its odd-shaped feet, growling with annoyance. "You're going to pay for that, you stupid fox!" Naruto blinked, his eyes flashing gold again. Stupid fox…he hated being called that…by humans and demons alike…it reminded Naruto of him, the one who had turned Naruto's life into a living hell in both worlds…Kyuubi…

"I…am…not…" Naruto growled. "You think it's easy being cursed to be a Vulpes? IT'S NOT! Humans and even other demons are racist against us, and I'm sick of it! So you'd better shut your mouth!" Naruto yelled, his fur bristling and gaining a red edge to it. The Hollow had really stuck a nerve.

"Ooooo. I struck a little nerve! Why not go get your mommy and cry into her furry arms, you stupid fox!" Naruto froze, and his fur lay flat.

"…my mother?" Naruto asked, then chuckled darkly. "You really shouldn't have gone there, Hollow…" Naruto continued lowly. "Nobody is allowed to speak of my mom that way…" Naruto lifted his head, lightning bolts of gold going down his sides, from the backs of his ears, down his neck, over his shoulders and hips, and down to the tips of his tail. His eyes turned gold, and his pupils turned purple. Red sparks crackled around the tip of his tails, and his claws and teeth grew longer and sharper. Yoruichi blinked with wide eyes.

"…uuuuhhh…" She said simply. The Hollow backed away slightly.

"…uh…demon?" The Hollow asked.

"…you wanted a demon?" Naruto asked, and then glared at the demon, his jaws parted, and white smoke drifting from his mouth from the roaring fire in his stomach. Saliva dripped from his fangs, and once it hit the ground, the ground was eaten away, as if hit by acid. "…now you've got one…" Naruto said, his voice much darker and heavier, with a deep, malevolent edge to it. Naruto vanished, and the Hollow froze. It looked around, trying to spot the fox.

"Where'd you do?" The Hollow yelled. Suddenly, Naruto appeared tucked in a tight ball, spinning at high speeds, and fell with gravity, smashing the tips of his tails into the Hollow's back. To the shock of the Hollow and Yoruichi, the Hollow shrieked with pain, and fell over, a large burn sprawled across its dry back. Naruto vanished again, and reappeared underneath the Hollow, swinging his paw, and striking a slash in the Hollow's chest. Naruto lifted his paw, and licked the blood off his long white claws. The Hollow was on its back, flailing madly and screaming. Naruto jumped onto the Hollow's chest, and glared down at it's mask.

"You insulted me and my mother…I'm not letting you get off with just being purified! Vinco(3) may have just purified you…" Naruto looked off to the side, a soft expression on his face…but then his snarling expression returned, and he turned back to the Hollow. "…but I'm not him!" Naruto lunged forward, and sank his long fangs into the Hollow's mask. The Hollow screamed with pain as Naruto snapped up his mask, and swallowed it. Once half the mask was gone, the Hollow stopped moving, and remained still. Naruto continued to eat the mask with gusto, not even paying attention to the wailing sirens in the distance. Yoruichi walked forward carefully.

"…uh…It's not healthy to eat Hollow…" Yoruichi said. Naruto looked up, blood covering his maw, and a snarl drifting past his teeth.

"You're lucky Vinco is coming…" Naruto snarled as his fur began to retreat back to orange, and the rest of him began to melt back to normal. Naruto spat Hollow's blood out of his mouth. Hope you liked my gift, Vinco…now you can be more usefull… Naruto thought, before he was completely back to normal, and collapsed on the disintegrating body. Yoruichi raced up to Naruto, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. This, however, was not the case. Naruto shot up, and began to spit globs and globs of Hollow blood from his mouth and throat. "WHAT THE HELL DID I EAT?" Naruto yelled, rubbing his paws on his tongue to get rid of the horrid green blood. "Disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting…" Naruto moaned with slight annoyance, still working at getting rid of the green hue of blood that remained on his tongue.

"…uh…right…should I be concerned, or should I be totally okay with all of that?" Yoruichi asked. Naruto blinked, and raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I think that you should probably be okay with it." Naruto responded slowly. He looked around. "Where'd that Hollow go?" Naruto asked curiously, looking back to Yoruichi. The cat, in turn, raised an eyebrow at the Vulpes.

"You ate it." She deadpanned. Naruto looked to the clouds, a look of disgust on his face.

So that's where the blood came from…He muttered to himself. He suddenly blinked, and looked down to Yoruichi. "Wait a minute! IS THAT EVEN HEALTHY?" Yoruichi chuckled at the returned question, shaking her head slowly. She stood up, and began to trot back in the direction of Urahara Shoten. "Hey! You damn cat, answer my question!"

:::A Few Days Later:::

Ichigo blinked as Urahara straightened his posture. Blood was streaming from the side of his head, and he supported many small cuts and gashes all along his arms and shoulders. Not even into Soul Society, and I already will have scars… Ichigo would constantly think, reminding himself that the scars would only serve as reminders that he had to get stronger with everything he had. All in order to save her. "Why're we stopping?" Ichigo demanded. "It's only been a few hours."

"A few days, actually. Five, I think." Urahara responded. Ichigo blinked.

"…oh…" He said simply. "You never answered why we're stopping."

"Because. Our ten days are up. You are going to be returning to school for a few days, probably one or two, and then you're going to come back here, sleep here, then leave." Urahara said.

"Good to know we have a schedule." Ichigo sighed.

"And it's one we're going to keep." Urahara responded. "Tessai, could you please bring Ichigo's body over here?" Urahara called, waving his fan in front of his face like he did so many times. Tessai dragged Ichigo's mortal body over to the orange-haired boy, then waltzed off, leaving the boy to slide into his body. "I'll have someone walk you home…hmmmm…ahh! I'll go wake him up." Urahara said, and waved for Ichigo to follow behind him. Ichigo jogged up to Urahara's side.

"I don't need anybody to walk me home. I'm fine, you know." Ichigo said. Urahara smiled as the two began to climb up the ladder.

"Yes, I am completely aware of that. But he's been sleeping for nearly an entire day. He's been working very hard; training longer then you have. 10 days without stop is quite a feat to pull off. But since he hasn't woken up, I'm beginning to think that he might have died." Urahara said.

"…and I take it you think that's a bad thing." Ichigo called up to the blonde-haired man.

"Well, yeah. If he did die…that means that 1) he left, and 2) he died without me or anyone else knowing it. Which, to me, is really bad. I have a reputation to uphold, you know." Urahara said. Ichigo scoffed silently as he pulled himself up onto the floor, and off the long ladder. How they always managed to get up the ladder without falling off, Ichigo would never know. Urahara quickly clopped over to a door, and threw it open. Inside the room, was what looked like a thick mattress on the floor, with someone sleeping on it, under a thick white blanket that rose and fell in time with the person's breathing. Urahara walked silently into the room, tiptoeing carefully, then carefully knelt down next to the person. He rolled the person over, and shook his shoulder. "Wake up, fur-face." He whispered. The person yawned, but didn't do anything else.

"Who is it?" Ichigo asked, slipping into view of the person. The person laying on the mattress was a young male, with spiky orange hair like Ichigo, and three identical whisker-like marks that were dark, feral, and 'busy' on each cheek. Fangs poked out from underneath his upper lip. He was dressed in what appeared gray cargo pants and a white tank top. His arms, strangely, were wrapped tightly in white bandages, all the way from his individual fingers, to his shoulders. From underneath the bandages on his fingertips, poked long claws that absolutely would not stay under the bandages. Urahara grinned up at Ichigo.

"You mean you don't know?" He asked, then reached to the boy's head, and pulled a large spike of orange hair. Surprisingly, the boy's eyes snapped open, revealing purple eyes with golden pupils. Urahara pulled the spike up, and the boy rose with it, grumbling under his breath.

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow." The boy groaned as he slowly got to his feet. Ichigo gaped. The 'hair' that Urahara was pulling was one of two orange fox ears, and behind the boy, waved four orange fox tails. Ichigo just stared with a dropped jaw, as the boy stood with one eye closed, and the other eye open and glaring at Urahara. "Why'd you wake me?" The boy growled.

"'Cause I need someone to walk Ichigo home, and you're the one that fit the bill." Urahara answered.

"And you couldn't ask the two kids that are sweeping a dirt road? Why do you make them do that again?" The boy asked.

"Because. You need to wake up some time, might as well wake up when there's something that needs to be done. And I make them sweep the dirt to see how long they'll do it." Urahara said.

"Why?"

"…um…I was bored." Urahara answered truthfully. The boy blinked, the blinked again.

"Do you mind letting go of my ear?" The boy asked. Urahara quickly released the boy's ear.

"Sorry." He said hurriedly, which was only replied with the boy rubbing his ear.

"I'll take Ichigo home. Just let me get changed first." The boy pushed his fingers into a strange gesture, and with a swirl of gold, his ears vanished, and his tails disintegrated. His fangs and claws remained. "Done." He deadpanned. Urahara clapped his hands together.

"Great!" He said happily. "You two met, if I remember correctly." The boy nodded, but Ichigo grunted.

"Nuh huh. I've never met a fox-kid." Ichigo said accusingly. The boy raised an eyebrow, then palmed his forehead.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo. I forgot you only knew me as a fox. My name's Naruto…the rest of my name is too long to say. I'm the fox that you met before. The Vulpes, or as you formally know from history, the 'Kitsune'. The one you helped; the one with the broken leg." The boy spoke. Ichigo pointed shakily.

"I thought you were a fox!" He protested. Naruto cocked his head.

"I am." He responded, sounding slightly confused. He turned to Urahara. "Is he trying to confuse me or something?" Naruto asked.

"What I think he means, is that he thought that you had the form of a fox." Urahara said. "Only, that is." Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Oh. We Vulpes can transform into human forms, and then hide most of our fox features with one of our special powers." Naruto explained, and Ichigo nodded slowly.

"…but that's still creepy…thinking a human was sleeping at the foot of my bed." Ichigo said.

"But I'm not human." Naruto protested.

"But what if you were?"

"But I'm not."

"Are you going to sit here and play 'is and isnt', or are you going to walk Ichigo home?" Urahara asked. Naruto raised an eyebrow, and turned his purple-and-gold gaze on the man.

"When I come back, can I go back to bed?" Naruto asked. Urahara grinned.

"Nope! More training!" Urahara responded. Naruto sagged.

"Right. Come on, Kurosaki…" Naruto groaned, and tromped out of the room. Ichigo trotted after him, and calmed his pace when he finally caught up.

"Train for what?" Ichigo asked. Naruto jumped, seemingly surprised that Ichigo had asked him a question.

"Oh…this and that…" Naruto responded.

"He's coming with you." Jinta called as they walked past them. Naruto shot the boy a glare, and parted his lips slightly, releasing a powerful breath, flames shooting through the small gap between his upper and lower teeth. Jinta shrieked, and raced inside.

"Wait…you are?" Ichigo asked. Naruto sighed, and nodded.

"The fox is out of the bag, metaphorically speaking. I somehow got talked into going along with you to rescue Rukia…that, and I've taken a minor liking to her while I was staying at your house, and I found it wrong that they execute her for doing her job: protecting humans from Hollows by any means necessary. It wasn't cowardly, what she did, but rather extremely brave, giving up her powers, and doing something that could have killed her along with a group of humans." Naruto spoke with another heavy sigh.

"It's good to know I'll have a demon at my side." Ichigo said with a small smile.

"The again…" Naruto said, and Ichigo raised an orange eyebrow. "I've heard that Soul Society is extremely well-protected, and everyone there is powerful…and the execution might not have taken the usual one-month waiting period that Urahara informed me that it was…and I'm not sure demonic powers will work against Soul Reapers…"

"Is this supposed to be a pep-talk?" Ichigo asked drastically. Naruto paused, his mouth open, then closed it. He smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry. Just stating what I know." Naruto responded.

"…hm…what's with the bandages?" Ichigo asked, attempting to change the subject, and get conversation back in the quite, darkening air as the sun began to sink towards the distant western horizon. Naruto cradled his left arm in his right, and stared at the bandages.

"Remember how I said that we lose most of our demonic features when we hide our obvious ones?" Naruto asked, smiling sheepishly again, looking more like a grimace than anything else. Ichigo nodded. "This is one of the features that I, personally, keep. Most Vulpes' just keep claws and fangs, sometimes foxish eyes, or pointed ears. Some of wider chests while having narrower shoulders. I keep claws, fangs, these whisker marks…and these." Naruto explained, lifting his arms. "I have to keep them covered…not many people would be calm with me looking like this." Naruto waved his arms for emphasis. "We cant make all of our demonic features disappear…we're lucky if we're able to get rid of both our ears and tails."

"But what's under the bandages?" Ichigo asked. Naruto flinched slightly. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." Ichigo said hurriedly, and looked away, mentally punching himself in the head for asking in the first place. He heard a strange ripping sound, and then cloth sliding against cloth, and turn back to Naruto after a sharp claw tapped him. Ichigo blinked with wide eyes, but kept everything else hidden. Naruto's and hands weren't human at all. They were covered in orange fur, and looked more like a cross between human arms and hands, and the front legs of a fox. His hands were paw-like, with black pads in his palms, and long claws that curved down slightly like talons. Naruto continued to unwrap his arm; up past his elbow, which hardly resembled a human elbow at all, up his upper arm, which looked muscular enough to carry a heavy animal for miles, and then to his shoulder, which slowly faded from skin to fur, with his skin uneven and darker in some places, as if he had been burned severely. Naruto curled his strange fingers into a fist, and held up his arm in the strengthening moonlight, allowing the light to bounce off his orange fur, turning it fire-orange, and causing his claws to glint menacingly. Naruto's smiling-grimace returned.

"I'm the only Vulpes alive who's like this. Nobody else has a problem with their arms remaining demonic, like I do. It's not bad, so long as I don't show it to any normal human." Naruto said, and began to rewrap his arm. Ichigo watched as he carefully rewrapped his arm, and then his fingers, leaving only his claws in view.

"…so…you can really transform…" Ichigo muttered. Naruto chuckled slightly, and nodded.

"Either that, or you're insane." Naruto responded.

"You know, I've been considering that possibility myself." Ichigo suddenly informed the other orange-haired teen, making Naruto erupt in a surprising fit of laughter.

"It'd fit. Seeing ghosts? Fighting evil spirits as a super-powered soul with a katana? Meeting demon foxes who can transform but keep freakish arms? An afterlife where others are executed? Sounds like a mental asylum is calling your name." Naruto said. Ichigo shrugged.

"What about you? You're the one who 'thinks' that you're a demon." Ichigo laughed, and Naruto nodded in agreement.

"But I can prove it." Naruto spoke.

"How?" Ichigo asked disbelievingly.

"Facts, man. Facts."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"It doesn't have to. While people are looking at the preplanned facts chart, I'll be making a break for the door." Naruto said casually as they turned a corner.

"With your tail between your legs?" Ichigo asked.

"Nope." Naruto paused. "All four. I'd look stupid with a single tail between my legs, but three sticking out in the air." Naruto and Ichigo laughed again at the sudden mental image. Naruto paused, and looked up to Kurosaki Clinic. "You're home." Naruto sighed, then raised an eyebrow. …alright…I actually enjoyed talking to someone…maybe I'm the one who's going crazy… Naruto thought absentmindedly.

"Yeah…Urahara said I'm going to be leaving within a few days…" Ichigo muttered.

"And he was right. Within one or two days, you and I are going to be heading into Soul Society." Naruto yawned quietly. "Heading into Soul Society to get slashed, stabbed, hacked, burned, frozen, sliced…wont that be fun?"

"…once again…you suck at pep-talks." Ichigo said.

"It wasn't a pep-talk." Naruto muttered to himself.

"Yeah yeah. It was just 'stating what you know.'." Ichigo said without much interest. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Don't mock a Vulpes, kid." Naruto said, and Ichigo raised an eyebrow in slight interest. Naruto suddenly broke out in a huge, mischievous grin. "We tend to bite."

:::Two Days Later:::

Ichigo sighed as he picked up his books, and prepared to leave school for his home. Two days ago, Naruto had walked him back to his house for a reason that still escaped the orange-haired teen. Two days ago was the last he had heard from anyone regarding Rukia and Soul Society. It worried Ichigo; he thought he would have left by now. There wasn't much time to go and rescue Rukia, and wasting what time he did have to learn about factorial equations and whatnot was not something that seemed smart to him. He had begun to think that Urahara had forgotten about him…so it took him as a big surprise when he walked outside, and saw Naruto standing there in human form, his eyes half closed, and his bandaged arms crossed over his chest. "Does your school always take so long to let out?" Naruto asked when Ichigo jogged up to him.

"What're you doing here? What if someone sees you?" Ichigo hissed.

"Then they'll just think that I got into some accident. I look human, you know. Everything about my current appearance can be explained." Naruto responded casually.

"Can you explain the golden pupils?" Ichigo shot back. Naruto opened his mouth, then paused.

"…I'm still working on that one." Naruto responded rather quickly. "But I didn't come here to discuss if I have an excuse for everything. Urahara says that tomorrow, we'll be leaving for Soul Society. You wont need anything for the trip, so he wants us all to come straight down to his shop." Naruto said. Suddenly, Orihime ran up to the two. Ichigo froze, and Naruto tensed while growling quietly to himself.

"Hi, Ichigo! I got a call from Urahara! We're supposed to meet his escort here!" Orihime said, smiling brightly, then looked to Naruto. "Is this one of your friends?" Chad and Uryuu approached the two, and stood there, appearing to be waiting for something. Ichigo blinked with eyes triple their normal sizes.

"Wait a minute…WHAT?" He shouted. Naruto rolled his eyes, and pulled Ichigo closer to him.

"You're very foolish, you know that? You couldn't even tell that while you were training, so was everyone else. Your friends are coming with, and that's final. If you try to make one move to send them home, I'll rip your vocal cords out so you cant protest anymore." Naruto whispered in Ichigo's ear. Ichigo swallowed deeply, and nodded his head in understanding.

"You're vicious…" Ichigo whispered back to the Vulpes.

"Only when I want to be." Naruto deadpanned, shoving Ichigo away so he'd have his own space back. Uryuu narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

"Ichigo, who is this? Why're you speaking to him when we have…places…to go?" Uryuu asked slowly. Naruto's eyes narrowed in reply, and before Ichigo could speak, a blast of killer intent and malice filled the air, all coming from Naruto.

"Do not be fooled…human." Naruto snarled. "I am no human like you…you think you're all high-and-mighty because you have spiritual powers. But that doesn't change the fact that you are still human…and an inhuman being like me will have no quarrel with ripping your throat out." Ichigo blinked, and whirled on Naruto.

"What's with you and tearing people's throats out, huh?" He asked loudly. Naruto turned to him, all aggression appearing to be gone.

"It's fun. We're going to Soul Society; you'll have plenty of people to practice it on." Naruto said. Ichigo turned green in the face, and began to sway slightly on his feet. "…you're not going to become sick from that, are you? That's pathetic." Naruto mumbled, and pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on. "Anyway…I'm your escort to Urahara's shop. He's insane…thinks a Reaper's going to attack you on your way there…not like you cant defend yourselves." Naruto muttered. Uryuu, quickly recoiling from the previous jab at his human stature, glared at Naruto.

"How do we know you're really our escort? Urahara said that ours was unique. You just look like a normal human to me." Uryuu spat. Naruto suddenly spread a feral grin on his face, his eyes narrowing. His pupils lengthened into slits, and his fangs grew out. His whisker marks darkened even more, past what appeared to be possible, his hair became more feral and took on a fur-like appearance, and slowly, ever so slowly, his fox ears appeared out of thing air in his orange hair. The three that were not ready for this recoiled drastically.

"Unique. That bastard sure does know how to keep everything secret, waiting for me to do the damn honors." Naruto said, mirth lacing his words, along with a slight hiss. Ichigo pulled one of Naruto's fox ears; Urahara had pointed out some useful tricks without even knowing it. Naruto's eyes widened, and he reached up and grabbed Ichigo's wrist, trying to lessen the pain. "Stop that damn you!" Naruto barked up at Ichigo's hand.

"Stop scaring people. You just made a mother run for the cops. DON'T. START. TRANSFORMING. IN. THE. MIDDLE. OF. THE. STREET." Ichigo yelled.

"Fine, fine! Let go of my ear! I still use those, you know!" Naruto yelled. Ichigo released the ear, and Naruto rubbed it, glaring angrily at the other orange-haired male. "Anyway, it should have been obvious that I'm not human. What human has orange hair?" Naruto asked, still rubbing his ear while the other was twisted around backwards in displeasure.

"Ichigo has orange hair." Orihime said pointing.

"Yeah, well he aint human." Naruto muttered to himself, letting his hand fall back to his side. He side as his fox ears vanished once again. "Well, we better head off. I was sparing with Urahara when he told me to leave…" Naruto said the last as a mere afterthought as they began to walk, but Ichigo gaped openly.

"You were sparing with him? Isn't he good? He doesn't look like someone who can use a Zonpaktou, but damn, he can!" Ichigo said. Naruto shrugged.

"He seemed fine to me. A little slow, but he has powerful blows and-"

"You think he's slow? I usually cant even keep up with him." Ichigo said. Naruto raised an orange eyebrow at the Soul Reaper.

"That's normal, I guess. You're not trained, and used to human opponents. Vulpes' are quick in nature. We're not sly and sneaky like everyone thinks, we're just really quick on our paws." Naruto said.

"What're Vulpes?" Chad asked. Naruto looked up at the giant.

"Hm…I didn't think you could speak…Vulpes is…well…what I am." Naruto responded. "I'm a fox." He deadpanned for a blank finish. Orihime, Uryuu, and Chad all stared with blank eyes…then started to laugh loudly.

"A fox? I admit, your not human, but you're not a fox." Uryuu said. Naruto's eyes narrowed with annoyance, before Naruto turned into a shop they were passing, and came out a few minutes later with a full-length mirror. He, first, pointed to his shadow. What was seen shocked everyone, including Ichigo. It was the shadow of a fox with four tails, and much larger then any other fox. Naruto then walked to a moldy wall, and propped the mirror up against it. He backed up a good ten feet, then did a strange maneuver with his feet. He then pointed at the mirror, and when the four looked into it, they didn't see Naruto, they saw a giant, four-tailed orange fox with a demonic appearance, sitting calmly ten feet away, pointing at the mirror with a single, massive paw. As Naruto spoke, the jaws of the fox moved, as if it was the one speaking.

"Even though I'm in my human form, my shadow and reflection remain my smaller form." Uryuu suddenly paused, then whirled around, pointing.

"I remember you now! You're that fox that helped carry Ichigo away after he was injured!" Uryuu yelled, then looked back between Naruto's reflection, and Naruto himself. Naruto did the same, strange maneuver with his feet, and in the mirror, it showed the fox moving its paws to stand up. Naruto then nodded, and the fox followed his movement.

"Yes, that was me." Naruto responded. He walked up to the mirror, and bit his thumb with two of his fangs, making a stream of blood flow. He turned the mirror over, and drew a strange design on it. Within a millisecond of drawing the design that looked like a swirl with a snake under it, the mirror shrank to the size of Naruto's palm, and he slid it in his pocket. He raised an eyebrow at the shocked expressions that the others wore. "What? You thought we demons didn't have our own special techniques? We are not labeled as 'creatures to be feared' in books and Bibles for nothing. We're not pushovers." Naruto said, and beckoned for the group to follow him once again.

"Why are you with Urahara, if you're a demon?" Chad asked. Naruto sighed.

"I left my skulk to learn more about the humans and everything they do. I wanted to learn about humans, Urahara wanted to learn about demons. We came to a compromise, and I've been staying with him ever since." Naruto responded.

"Have you learned anything useful so far?" Orihime asked. Naruto nodded.

"I've learned much about humans and their strange technology, and their money and whatnot. I honestly still don't understand, though, why you humans left your old cave-dwelling, cooking-over-the-fire methods that you had when I was much younger. Then again, you leaving the caves left animals and demons more territory…until you started to cut it down for your new, stone-built settlements." Naruto spoke.

"…cave dwelling? Dude, how old are you?" Ichigo asked with wide eyes.

"Fifteen." Naruto deadpanned.

"No, seriously."

"I am serious." Naruto responded.

"Humans haven't lived in caves for hundreds of years. Not in Japan, anyway." Ichigo said. Naruto looked up to Ichigo.

"Did I ever say that we demons count our years the same way as you humans?" Naruto asked, and Ichigo clamped his mouth shut, thinking

"Oh…that makes sense…" He said slowly. "Wait a minute…I just noticed something…you have four tails…"

"You just noticed this? I thought you noticed two days ago." Naruto muttered.

"I did, but I never processed the thought." Ichigo sighed. "How come you have four tails?"

"Demons, at least, the nine main demons, can grow a certain number of tails, according to their race and power." Naruto explained. "Each demon race has a Demon Head, or Demon Boss, formally called Bijuu. Truthfully, that's the only Japanese word that the Demons use now. Anyway, each demon boss that has a high number of tails is stronger, and each Bijuu cant grow more tails then what their race can grow in all. There's the One-Tailed Raccoon-Dog, Two-Tailed Cat, Three-Tailed Turtle, Four-Tailed Dragon, Five-Tailed Dog, Six-Tailed Weasel, Seven-Tailed Badger, and Eight-Tailed Snake." Naruto said.

"Wait a minute…you didn't mention Fox…does that mean that your race isn't one of the nine main…and you didn't name them all." Uryuu said.

"I know. I belong to the race that rules all the demons, the Foxes, known to you as the Kitsunes, but known to the demons as the Vulpes. Our King, and the Demon Lord, is the nine tailed fox, given the title of Kyuubi. There is only one nine-tailed fox born every million years, and when that fox is born, they are immediately declared the successor of the previous nine-tails, once that demon dies. But sadly, Kyuubi disappeared a while ago, and a successor has failed to appear since. Many demons are thinking that the Vulpes race is going to fall…" Naruto trailed off in deep thought. "But that doesn't really matter. I don't really care what's going to happen to the other Vulpes." Naruto said absentmindedly, waving his hand in dismissal.

"What? Why? Don't you care about your own kind? Your family?" Ichigo asked.

"My family…hm…never knew them." Naruto deadpanned, and the four stared at him with jaws agape. "I was told they both died. My mother died, actually, and my father disappeared. It was a strange date for him to disappear to…my mother died the day I was born, and my father disappeared a few minutes after that. That's not the problem, though. I don't care about the others because the demons think that the humans have plagued the planet, and think that we should just go an kill them off to leave the planet to demons, since we were here first." Naruto said.

"…but…but…don't you agree with them?" Orihime asked.

"I honestly…" Naruto began, and the four waited with baited breath "…couldn't care less." Naruto finished, and the four sweat-dropped. "It doesn't concern me what they want to do. I just ignore them all anyway." Naruto waved a hand in dismissal.

"Is that becoming a habit of yours or something?" Ichigo asked with exasperation. Naruto smiled slightly.

"…maybe…possibly…yes…" Naruto answered quietly, before his smile fell. They had arrived at Urahara's shop. "We're here…Urahara should be down in the training room. I'll take you all there." Naruto said, and reached his hand forward to grab the door. He suddenly paused, and his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. "Wait a minute…he never closes the front door during the day…" Naruto said slowly and quietly. His nose twitched, and his eyes narrowed even further, even though it had appeared and impossible feat moments before. Naruto opened his mouth, but never got word out, for a foot suddenly smashed down the door, and Naruto along with it. Naruto skid across the ground, Urahara standing on his chest with one foot, an insane look on his face.

"You let your GUARD DOWN!" Urahara shouted after Naruto had stopped sliding. Naruto flung the man off his chest, and rolled onto his chest, and jumped into a crouch, before flinging himself at the blonde man, his hands outstretched and claws bared. Naruto began to slash diagonally from every direction, trying to slash Urahara in the chest or face, while the blonde man just smiled and dodged backwards away from the enraged Vulpes.

"I'm to KILL YOU." Naruto snarled.

"Hey! I finally found someone who gets angry quicker then Kurosaki-san!" Urahara laughed joyously.

"An angry Vulpes is not a good thing, Urahara! We tend to be quite vicious when we're PISSED." Naruto growled back to the man.

"As much as I love to see Urahara get the shit clawed out of him…" Said a sudden new voice. All paused, with Naruto in mid slash, sparks flying from his claws for some unknown reason. "…we do have something to do, you know. Naruto, kill him later. Urahara, annoy the fox later tonight when you will undoubtedly be keeping him awake." A sleek black cat padded quietly out of the shadows. Ichigo gaped at the talking cat, while the others slightly fidgeted. Urahara wilted at his antics being cut short, while Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously. He opened his mouth to speak, but the cat cut him off. "No interrupting, Kit." The cat said. Naruto's eyes narrowed further.

"What if I don't want to listen to a kitty-cat?" Naruto questioned. The cat grinned at the coded, spoken challenge.

"I'm older then you, so you must listen, Fluffy-wuff." The masculine-sounding cat meowed with a slightly rough edge. Naruto bared his fangs shortly.

"I'm older then you, Pussy."

"You don't look it, Dog-Cat."

"You don't look hundreds of years either, and yet you are. Demons age differently, even from the dead. We look young, while we are thousands of years old. You have no idea of my true age, so I render your argument invalid, you Stray Cat." Naruto said. The cat opened its mouth to speak, then paused, before closing its mouth again.

"…I'm all out of insults." The cat said, hanging its head in defeat. Naruto's eyes shone with superiority, as if he had just won a battle for dominance. For all anyone else knew, they had just battled for dominance. Naruto glanced to Ichigo's confused and shocked expression.

"That's right. You don't know her yet. And before you argue about anything, yes, she's a she, contrary to what she sounds like. Her name's Yoruichi. That's all you need to know about her." Naruto said, then bent over and picked Yoruichi up by the scruff of her neck. "She's just a harmless Kitty-Cat Pussy." Yoruichi began to claw at the air between her and Naruto's face.

"Turn into your human-appropriate Fox Form and see who's a harmless Kitty-Cat Pussy, you MUTT!" Naruto glared slightly at the cat's banter.

"Aint no mutt. Let's go see how you can fare against gravity." Naruto said, and stalked inside. Everyone looked to Urahara, who in turn looked to them.

"…uh…are you guys worried about that as much as I am?" Urahara asked. The group raced inside, and reached the back room just as Naruto dropped a burlap sack into the hole that led to the underground training room. Naruto stared, his purple eyes blank, as the sack shrank quickly, until a sickening crunch sounded, and a burst of dust shot into the air. "Naruto!" Urahara moaned. "Do you know what you just did?"

"I dropped a cat tied up and gagged in a burlap sack down a 100-foot drop." Naruto deadpanned. Apparently he still didn't understand rhetorical human talk…

"I never would have guessed." Urahara muttered.

"Then you are blind and stupid." Naruto sighed. …or sarcasm. "She's in a gigai anyway. It wont matter." Naruto scoffed. Urahara looked away whistling. "She is in a gigai, right?" Naruto asked. Urahara laughed nervously. Naruto's face adopted a blank look. "Smart. I'll go see if she's okay." Naruto bent over and grabbed the first rung of the ladder, and swung himself down onto the ladder…then just let go. He plummeted twenty feet before he grabbed onto another rung of the ladder, being jerked painfully back upwards. He repeated this until he reached the bottom, then waited for the others to finally get down the old-fashioned way. Naruto held the flailing bag a foot away from his body, poking it every so often with a stick. "Good news: She's still alive. Bad news: She wants to kill me. Solution: …please don't let her out of the bag." Naruto said. Urahara stared at the bag, and pointed blankly.

"Nobody touch that bag. With my luck, she wont be able to find you, so she'll take her anger out on me." Urahara clapped his hands. "Anyway! Dinner time! Venison provided kindly by Naruto." Urahara said. Everyone looked to him, and he shrugged.

"What did you do?" Ichigo asked slowly.

"Why must everyone react like this when I go hunting? You, Urahara, Yoruichi, Tessai, Jinta, Ururu, those people who same me carrying a bloody deer through town…" Naruto listed. "Alright, the last is explainable since I was covered in blood and in human form, but still…"

"Wherever you're from, I'm sure the humans are more used to seeing bloody people walking around with giant deer slung over their shoulder." Yoruichi called from inside the bag. Naruto shook his head almost cheerfully.

"Nope. Such an act is the sign of the Demon Lord's return." Naruto responded. The group began to walk towards the center of the training area, with only Urahara, Naruto, and Ichigo not looking around, amazed, at the amazing scenery.

"Can you let me out now?" Yoruichi asked.

"Are you still mad I threw you down the ladder?" Naruto asked in response.

"Duh."

"Then you aint gettin' out." Naruto barked, and threw the bag down by a large pile of logs, begging to be lit ablaze. Yoruichi hissed in anger from inside the bag, but she was soon forgotten when Tessai rolled out a large chunk of meat that was still sizzling from being cooked elsewhere.

"Food's ready!" Tessai called. The group of four grinned, and Naruto looked away, many subjects of thought rolling through his mind. But the largest one, was: How are we going to rescue Rukia, exactly? Naruto was shaken from his thoughts when Ichigo shoved a chunk of meat under Naruto's nose. He was chewing on what looked like a rib, with his scowl shallower than normal.

"You hunted the food; don't you want any?" Ichigo asked. Naruto shook his head.

"I already ate a soldier pill." Naruto responded. Ichigo blinked, his jaw moving up and down as if to talk, even though no sound came out.

"…alright…what the hell is that?" Ichigo asked. Naruto sighed, and ran a clawed hand through his spiky orange hair.

"In the land I came from, the humans made these special pills for themselves. They're called Soldier Pills. They give a burst of energy, and also can be the replacements for food. I've managed to make them differently, so they replenish my demonic energy. Regular Soldier Pills don't do that. I ate one of those, so you and the others can eat all the venison to get ready for the rescue mission tomorrow." Naruto responded, then twitched. "That, and I don't think Urahara's going to give me time to eat before he comes after me again…" Naruto added, seemingly as an afterthought.

"Why would he come after you?" Uryuu asked.

"'Cause he likes fighting me. He thinks my fighting style is 'wild and animalistic', and he thinks it's exciting to fight someone who battles like that. They're not that intense or hard, but they are very adrenaline-pumping, since Urahara never holds back and I do." Naruto responded. Right as he said this, Urahara jogged up, holding his cane, and holding a large sword in his other hand.

Naruto looked at the sword, and a small smile flash on his face briefly. Urahara grinned, and threw the sword at Naruto. The orange-haired Vulpes caught it deftly in his hand, and swished it once through the air, the blade whistling happily as Naruto swung it carefully. The Vulpes looked up to Urahara. "Then this confirms our sparring is still on?" Naruto asked, even though he already knew the answer as Urahara gripped the cane further down its shaft, and then the curved, U-shaped handle. Urahara, who had been grinning already, grinned even wider. He didn't do anything to respond. Instead, he resorted to slowly drawing a long, thin blade from his cane, with the shaft being the sheath, and the curved handle being the hilt. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to be fair this time?" Naruto asked. Urahara grinned even more, even though it appeared impossible with the size of his current grin.

"Hmmmm…nope." Urahara responded. Naruto sighed as he threw his sword back and forth in his hands.

"I figured as much." Naruto held the sword tightly in his right hand, freeing his left, which he clenched into bared claws. He crouched. "Then come on." Urahara looked down at his sword, his eyes becoming deadly serious.

"Awaken…Benihime!" He ordered. Instantly, his sword morphed into a beautiful Zonpaktou with a single red tassel hanging from the pommel of the hilt. Naruto's eyes twitched, and he vanished with a buzz of electronic sound and a small shockwave that ripped through the area. Urahara vanished with the familiar 'whoosh' sound of a well-preformed Shunpo.

"I cant believe it!" Ichigo whispered. His three friends looked to him, confusion on their faces.

"What?" Chad asked.

"Naruto! He had a Zonpaktou!" Uryuu gaped, while Orihime and Chad still looked oblivious.

"…a…what?" Orihime asked.

"A Zonpaktou is a sword that comes from the soul of a Soul Reaper. They're supposed to be the ultimate weapons…how could a fox have one?" Uryuu explained, muttering the last mostly to himself.

"I don't know, but I do know, that something isn't right with him. I know what a Soul Reaper's Spiritual Energy feels like, and that wasn't it. He felt more malevolent, but that's a demon's power. At least, that's what Urahara said earlier. But…there was another power there that was choking and overwhelming…this is all too confusing." Ichigo whispered, putting a hand to his forehead. He watched as the two blurs, one green and one orange, shot around the field, clashing crazily together, before bouncing off, and vanishing behind one of the rock pillars.

"I cant even follow this." Chad muttered to himself, and Orihime and Ichigo nodded in agreement. But Uryuu was watching with wide eyes, his eyes darting around.

"Uryuu…are you following them?" Ichigo asked with shock.

"Yes…but just hardly." He responded. "They're both amazing. Mr. Urahara's fighting like someone who's working with a partner who they've been working with for a long time…and the Vulpes is fighting like an animal. He stops himself from sliding on all fours, and he lashes out viciously, as if the Zonpaktou was merely an overly-large claw." Uryuu explained. "Mr. Urahara just tried doing a down slash, but the demon parried…and countered with…a roundhouse kick to the legs, but since they're in the air, Mr. Urahara's spiraling towards the ground…oh, he recovered, just on time…that part was a little blurry, but I think Urahara landed a hit on the fox's arm…" Small specks of blood splattered the ground underneath the orange blur. "…yeah, he definitely got caught on that last attack."

"Damn! I wish I could follow this to!" Ichigo cursed, stomping his foot. Suddenly, a rock pillar off to his left exploded outwards, shards of brown rock flying everywhere. Dust billowed into the sky, and Naruto's Zonpaktou came shooting out, lodging itself, blade-down, into the dirt. Naruto pushed himself out of the wreckage, shards of rock sticking out of his body at random places. Urahara reappeared twenty feet away, his eyes large.

"…uh…oops?" He offered slowly.

"Yeah. 'Oops'." Naruto muttered. He pulled a foot-long spike of rock from his side, and pushed demonic chakra to it, making it glow orange briefly, before the cut began to heal at a rapid pace. Naruto glared as he continued to pull rock spike after rock spike from his body. "That's the third time you've done that in three hours, including when we were sparring before I went to go get Ichigo and the others. I'm don't sparring with you."

"Awe! But sparring with you is-"

"Tiring? Taxing? Aggravating?" Naruto offered.

"Fun!" Urahara protested.

"If throwing fifteen year olds into rock pillars is fun, then you're nearly as morbid as I am." Naruto said. He walked over to his Zonpaktou, and ripped it from the ground. He held it to his back, and then with a bright flash, it was gone. Ichigo pointed.

"How'd you do that?" He asked, then repeated it, more frantically.

"Urahara was able to pull my Zonpaktou from my soul without me having to leave my body." Naruto responded. "By applying spirit energy to my Zonpaktou, they'll go back into my body, and to my soul." Uryuu raised an eyebrow.

"'They'?" He asked.

"Mmhm." Naruto responded blankly, dusting off his pants. "We might want to get to bed. It might not look like it, but it's late right now. If we want to leave early tomorrow, then we'll need to go to bed now."

:::A Few Minutes Later:::

After a few minutes of bickering and arguing, everyone who would be participating in the Rukia Rescue was laying in a circle around an unlit pile of logs. Yoruichi was still inside the burlap sack, but had appeared to have finally fallen asleep. Ichigo was just slipping into his sleeping bag, when he noticed that Naruto was crouched by the fire. "Hey." He whispered. Naruto looked over his shoulder. "What're you doing?"

"I'm lighting the fire." Naruto whispered back. He turned back around, and clenched a fist around his mouth. He inhaled deeply, then released all his breath slowly, a small orange glow squeezing past his fingers. He opened his fist, revealing a ball of fire that crackled and leapt towards the sky for a few inches. The flame hovered about three inches from Naruto's cupped right hand, and let off more light than natural. Naruto put his hand to a single log, and with a sudden pop, the fire leapt from Naruto's palm, and lit the entire pile of wood, creating a large, warm bonfire.

"How'd you do that?" Ichigo asked, pointing at the fire, and then at Naruto's palm, which was not scorched in the lightest.

"It's an ability only we Vulpes have." Naruto responded. He clenched a fist in front of his mouth, and blew again, creating another ball of fire in his hand. He held it out for Ichigo to take. The Reaper shot Naruto a strange look that clearly said '…you insane?'. Naruto chuckled. "Take it. Don't worry, it wont burn you unless I will it to." Naruto said. Ichigo slowly took it in his hands, and marveled as the fire hovered a few inches from his own palms, not burning him in the slightest, even though he could feel the base of the flames invisibly licking at his skin. "We Vulpes (Don't know if I already said this!) have a second stomach that is devoted completely to housing our Eterna Flamma; our Eternal Flame. Only Vulpes with the attribute for fire have this second stomach and Eterna Flamma, though. This flame is very important. It warms our bodies, and gives us the ability to manipulate our own person fire. We cant control fire that we didn't create ourselves, and we cant control a different Vulpes'. If this flame in our second stomach goes out, then we forever lose the ability to breathe fire and control it." Naruto explained. "If we will our fire to harm someone, it will. If we will it to be as violent as a raging, starving lion, it will. But if we will it to be as delicate as a soft breeze or silk, then it will be, and anyone will be able to touch it, even a human…and a Soul Reaper." Ichigo tossed the fire in the air, and then caught it. He grinned. He gently threw it into the blazing fire, giving the fire more light. He turned to Naruto.

"I am so damn happy we have a Vulpes on our side. I doubt any Soul Reaper will be expecting you." Ichigo said. Naruto suddenly grinned a true, genuine grin.

"They wont be expecting either of us."

:::The Next Morning:::

The Senkaimon was open. Ichigo had already left his body. Everyone was ready to go. Except two people. One, was Yoruichi, who was currently clawing her way out of the sack that nobody had helped free her from. Second, was Naruto. His Zonpaktou was still with his Soul…and he was still in his body. Ichigo kindly pointed this out, and Naruto jumped, surprised anybody had noticed. "What? Were you planning to just run in in your natural body?" Ichigo asked. Naruto blinked.

"It's was a possibility…but I forgot myself. Urahara, let me see your stick." Naruto said. Urahara pouted childishly.

"It's not a stick! It's Benihime!" Urahara protested.

"Compared to Zangetsu and them, she looks like a stick." Naruto muttered, snatching the came away. He lifted it, and jammed the end of the cane to his forehead. With a loud pop, Naruto backpedaled from his body, allowing it to slump forward, motionless and lifeless. But what greeted everyone's eyes was not a Soul Reaper. Ichigo knew what this was, but had forgotten the name…but Uryuu knew what it was, for he muttered the title.

"Arrancar." He whispered. All turned to look at Uryuu, before looking back to Naruto.

Naruto wore a bleach-white hakama with a black sash around his waist, and no shoes or socks to shield his feet. Over his torso, was a white vest with a thick black armor-like tank-top underneath. A section of the left upper half of the vest was missing, along with the tank-top, revealing part of Naruto's chest, and a large, two-fist sized hole that went all the way through his chest. Around Naruto's throat was a choker necklace of interlocking fangs about two inches long and half an inch wide. His fox ears were in his hair, twisted around backwards. His long and wide Zonpaktou was strapped to his back, with the hilt coming over his right shoulder.

"Arrancar?" Orihime asked.

"Besides Hollows and Soul Reapers, there are two other soul creatures with soul powers. There's Vizards, which are Soul Reapers who have gained Hollow powers…and Arrancars, which are Hollows that had removed a section of their mask to gain the powers of a Soul Reaper." Uryuu explained.

"…he's right…and Naruto's an Arrancar." Ichigo spoke.

"Argue all you want, I cant change the fact that my soul is the soul of a Hollow. Be happy that my soul isn't in Hollow form. Urahara didn't like it too much, which is why he made me rip off part of my mast for this." Naruto said, motioning to his humanoid body.

"Naruto accidentally ate part of a Hollow a few weeks back, and because he ate that Hollow, and had his own spiritual power to begin with, his spirit morphed into a Hollow. When I started training him, he was a full Hollow. But I managed to convince him to become more powerful by taking off part of his mask to become an Arrancar." Urahara explained as he walked over to the Vulpes. He suddenly snatched Benihime away from Naruto. "My stick."

"Told you it was a stick." Naruto snorted, causing Urahara to glare angrily at the male.

"So…we're traveling with an Arrancar?" Ichigo asked.

"Like it or not, I cant change. I would if I could, but I cant. I'm not evil, like Yoruichi over there thinks I should be." Naruto suddenly grinned, revealing his massive fangs. "And I'm going to scare the shit out of the Soul Reapers. An Arrancar running around their stronghold…" Naruto mused. Ichigo shrugged.

"I wasn't going to protest. I was just confirming it. Now…let's go." He said. Naruto nodded, then declared:

"We're going to shake Soul Society to its very core!"

---

*This is just a special note. A Corsac fox looks kind of like a mix of an Arctic Fox and a Red Fox. If you want to see a picture, go to Wikipedia, and look up Corsac fox. It makes everything so much easier…since you know what Naruto looks like. Just take the Corsac fox, and turn it unnatural-orange. I'm going to be mentioning his fox breed quite a few times, and knowing what he looks like will help…a lot. Another comparison! An albino red fox! There yah go.

My Laptop is still broken…*cries*. But my daddy ordered the right crap to get it fixed, so within a few weeks, I'll probably be updating like, once a day. I hope this chapter wasn't too long. I decided to make it really long to celebrate school being let out(yesterday.) The only reason it's up so late is 'cause…well, I was busy. Um…the second chapter should be up within a week or so. Keep an eye out for chapter three!

**1** Canis – Dog
**2** Lupus – Wolf
**3** Vinco – Master

~Kitsune-242