Naruto, I choose YOU!

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the sky was clear. In general, it was a good day to be alive.

Unless you were Naruto, of course. He sat up with a groan. He hadn't hurt like this even when Sasuke had pushed that damn chidori through his chest. Where ever he was, it certainly didn't look like Fire Country.

He'd celebrate his latest success, right after he finished passing out. When he came to again later, the sun had traveled a considerable way across the sky. There was a considerable weight on his chest, but he was too tired to lift his head. Instead, he took the path of least resistance and allowed gravity to pull his head to the side. Okay. Trees, grassy plain, blue sky. Looked like he was at the edge of a forest. He could deal with that.

Straining the muscles in his neck, he turned his head back to face upright. The weight on his chest shifted.

He found himself staring directly into the eyes of a rather large fox that was standing on his chest. Naruto's eyes traveled down the length of its body.

He counted. One. Two. Three. Four… yeap. Nine-tails.

Shit.

He didn't want to deal with this now. The sweet caress of unconsciousness called to him, and he happily surrendered.

The sun was up again before he woke. He hurt everywhere – his muscles protested in a fashion that he'd never experienced before. Struggling, he sat up, wincing as each muscle involved in the process gave a twinge and spasms.

"What happened?"

"It worked, but not like I had hoped," a low, gravelly voice stated from nearby. Naruto turned slowly to avoid additional pain, only to come face to face with the same nine-tailed fox he had seen earlier.

"Kyuubi?" It was about the size of a Saint-Bernard, almost on eye level with Naruto. Its paws were easily the size of his hands, and its mouth was big enough to do real damage if it desired. It had a deep, blood-red coat of fur and deep red eyes. Each tail was tipped in a light sheen of white.

The fox grunted.

"What… I mean, how?" Naruto's face drained. "I mean, Oh SHIT!" He scrambled to his feet, clawing at his belly as he frantically searched for the seal. It was still in place. He frowned.

"If this is still here," he pointed at his stomach, "what are you doing out there?" He paused. "And why haven't you killed me yet?"

The fox shook its head. "New dimension, new rules."

"That doesn't mean much to me, fox."

"Yes, because you're an idiot."

Nartuto harrumphed.

The fox sat down on it's haunches, looking Naruto in the eyes. "My best guess is that this dimension doesn't allow for demons to be sealed inside of human containers. Thus, my form." It twitched its tails. Naruto almost thought it looked annoyed. Its next statement confirmed that sentiment. "However, it seems that even with this form, that blasted seal is still active, as my spirit and a vast bulk of my powers are still sealed inside of you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I can't kill you… Yet. But I'm looking for a way around it."

"Oh."

Silence stretched as the two just looked at each other for a bit. Without warning, Naruto forced his aching body into motion, slamming a foot as hard as he could into the fox's ribcage. The creature flew off into the forest, slamming against a tree, only to get lost in the shadows.

"Damn, that felt good!" Naruto was feeling better already. "I've been wanting to do that for a while!"

Then the fox attacked back.

A panting, heavily bleeding and burnt Naruto lay on his back, pressing a wad of cloth against the larger bite wound on his thigh. If he were a steak, he'd said the Kyuubi had toasted him to a nice rare – A suitable layer of char on the outside, but still bloody and pink on the inside. He was also nicely tenderized from the pounding he'd received, not to mention the various bite wounds.

Even if most of its powers were still sealed inside Naruto, the fox had proven that it could still command fire rather well.

The fox was curled up a few feet away, glaring balefully at the boy. "Well, that was productive," it spat.

"Yeap!" Naruto tied off the bandage, looking for something else to use for some of the claw marks on his stomach. "And I'll do it again as soon as I can stop this bleeding. I've wanted to kick your ass for a long time."

"Insect."

"Fucking fur-ball." Naruto tore another strip of cloth off of his pants, using it to tie the bandage in place over his thigh. "Did you have to burn off all my clothes?"

"Orange is a stupid color."

"Don't make me come over there and beat you again."

"Hmff." The fox looked away.

"So, why am I healing so slowly?"

The fox shrugged. "Different dimensions, different rules, remember?"

"This sucks."

"Yes, it does." The fox licked its lips. "But your blood is rather tasty. Still, that frail human form puts me at risk as well. I'm still tied to your body. If you die, I die."

"Maybe I should just bleed out here, then. I'd be doing the world a service if I died here."

"I'll fucking drag your carcass to a doctor myself if I have to, you brat. I have no intention of allowing you to kill me in whatever god forsaken place you've managed to land us."

"You were the one that helped me figure out how to do this. You're partially to blame as well." Naruto struggled to his feet. "I guess we should go find some help. If I can't heal like normal, I'm not gonna make it too long out in the wild. I'd prefer to have less of your saliva on me then I already do."

The Kyuubi got to its feet as well, favoring a front paw greatly. "There are signs of some sort of human settlement to the south."

"How do you know?"

"I found it while looking around while you were unconscious like the pathetic monkey you descended from."

"Gee, thanks." Naruto turned and limped slowly to the south. He frowned when the fox followed, limping as well. "I meant to ask. Why are you sticking around?"

"It seems I don't have much of a choice. Since my spirit is still tied to your body, I'm limited in the range I can venture. When I get too far from your body my corporal form begins to weaken and disintegrate. It has been a long time since I was anything but a prisoner, and I'd rather not risk being totally forced inside that blasted seal again."

"You must hate that, huh?"

The fox narrowed its eyes and twitched one of its tails, setting the remnants of Naruto's shirt on fire. "What do you think, pissant?" The Kyuubi blithely ignored Naruto's screams as it walked away.

The pair managed to make it to town a few hours later. There were only two more blow ups between them. Naruto managed to bruise one of the foxes eyes shut with a luck right cross, but he got a bite on the ass for his trouble that made walking even more painful than it already was.

That, of course, pissed off the blond to no end, so he ended up kicking the nine-tailed fox to as punishment, which of course invited retaliation. Since Naruto's shirt had long since been burnt away and his pants were mostly being used to stop bleeding, the Kyuubi set fire to his eyebrows.

For shits and giggles, mostly, but also because it was pissed.

So the pair hobbled along, coming into town, battered, bloody, and in generally foul moods. They snipped at each other, but Naruto was physically in too bad a shape to do more than run his mouth. Upon reaching town, the first question they received threw them both for a loop. A goofy looking kid with coke-bottle glasses, a backpack, and a worse fashion sense than Naruto approached them and asked, "Wow! Is that a nine-tails? I'd never thought I'd see one of those!"

Kyuubi was about to set the little brat on fire when Naruto collapsed. Shit. The fox could feel himself getting weaker as Naruto's body began to shut down. It growled, "Doctor. Now!" before succumbing to the inviting blackness.