I was very pleased with how fast I got followers on this story OoO
Thank you Akirakun17 for reviewing ^.^ I hope you don't get to scared that you wont read O.O
Thank you to these people for following The Path!
Akirakun17, foxlin, mistyElk0, Obsessiveness1530!
At the end of this chapter I'll have an explaination on the story just in case. (I had to do this with my other story lol) I'm going to explain the the history of the "Red Riding Hood" folklore if you haven't noticed that this is that time of fanfiction. =3 On with the chapter!
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Naruto woke with a start, cold sweat dripped down his form as he looked around nervously. 'It was a.. Dream..?' He had drempt that he was someone else roaming off the path. He frequently had these types of dreams , but lets face it. He literally lived in the woods and nothing has ever strayed him from the path. He couldn't see what the big deal was. Crawling out of bed, he fixed the sheets and showered. He went down stairs but stopped. There was mud ALL over his kitchen floor. Avoiding to step in the mess he followed the trail to the living room. "Great.." He grumbled out loud. There was mud and blood back onto his living room floor boards again and all over the door. Someone had to be playing pranks. Maybe the villagers? Growling under his breath he took out his cleaning supplies and mopped up the mess once more. He made himself a bowl of oatmeal and fruits, ate his breakfast, and quickly grabbed his supplies for the day. Once every other day Naruto would feed the birds along the path, trim the trees and fix the dirt path way. He did it so the villagers wouldn't have to be afraid to go on to the path but it seemed all his work failed. They were still frightened, sighing he filled the feeders outside his house, and threw some hands fulls on the dirt ground as he walked. If the villagers wouldn't appreciate his hard work, then maybe the animals and plants will. Looking at his shadow when he reached the gravel road he had to assume it was only 10 am. He sat his things next to a tree and ran off to the village.
'There he is again.'
'Why does he bother coming here?'
The blonde straightened his back, he wasn't going to let these people try to but him down. He sat at his usual spot at the park and watched the children at the school yard play.
'That red headed child was adopted right?'
'Yeah, but his parents wont tell anyone where they got him'
'He has the same scars as that beast boy.'
'Are they related?'
'No! I heard the beast attacked him and the parents found him at the village entrance.'
He shook his head, his blonde locks tickling his nose. These women need jobs. Naruto watched his younger brother for a little bit, smiling lovingly as he saw the grin the younger carried. Standing up he looked straight at the gossiping women and slowly walked in their direction.
'Shhush! Here he comes!'
The women settled down their talking and fixed their eyes to glare at the blonde boy. He walked right past them, hearing them let go of the breath they were holding and began whispering about the daily things they do as women. 'Uhg how obnoxious!' Naruto though as he walked into a house across the street from the school house. "Hello there Naru-chan~!" a tanned man said while pulling the other into a tight hug. Naruto giggled and hugged the man back just as tight. "Hey Iruka-san! How's everything?" the blonde asked as he released the man and sat in the living room, "Well with Kyuu-Kyuu his grades and attitude are great but the rumors are getting to him. I'm doing great, but Kakashi-san has had trouble at work." Naruto's ears perked up at this, causing the hood on his head to stand weird. He stood up and helped Iruka bring a tray of snacks and tea into the livingroom and sat it on the table, then sat everything up for the two so Iruka could finish what he was saying. "Thank you Naru-chan." Iruka murmured as he sipped his tea.
"I'm sure you already heard the rumors about how Kyuu-Kyuu was "adopted"." Naruto nodded. "Well, of course the women think it has something to do with you or The Path, mainly because yesterday morning some children went missing again but show up later in the night and some show up this morning." The blonde nodded once again automatically knowing why Kakashi was having trouble at work. Kakashi is one of the constables for the village that's why when people requested him to investigate Naruto he'd just say he was scared. He was on Naruto's side. "Oh." Naruto was broken out of his thoughts, "I walked by The Path yesterday afternoon, it looks lovely. You've done a great job!" Iruka filled Naruto's cup with tea, he couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Iruka-san. But, I do have some gossiping myself." The tanned man was all ears, he sat up straight and gave the young blonde all his attention. "Strange things have been happening lately. On my way home the path changed. The tree's were dead, the sky was cloudly, and there was a thick fog everywhere. I felt as if someone was watching me from all directions. I tripped outside my house and found a wolf print.." Naruto fell quiet and Iruka tapped his chin in thought. "That is strange. Me and Kyuu-Kyuu were outside all day and the weather was perfect." "But that's not all.." Iruka hushed and watched the small blonde, he was fidgetting, nervous no doubt, and his hands were shaking what ever was going on scared the boy immensily. "I walked inside and locked the door and ate lunch but not long after I heard my door opening. I went to the livingroom and there was a child wet, cut and torn up, covered in mud and blood limping into my house. I went to get my first AID kit but when I came back they were gone.. The trail they left only reached the middle of my living room. Then this morning, there was two more trails that reached to my kitchen.. I'm scared Iruka. My door was locked both times, and was still locked afterwards." The blonde stuffed a small crustless sandwich into his mouth and gulped down half of his cup of tea trying to calm himself down. Iruka nibbled on his sandwich pondering what Naruto had just told him. "Thats strange. Did you get a good look at the children? I can report them as pranksters. How many were there?" Naruto shook his head, "No.. What was scary is that. They were nothing but black, no detail. The blood, mud, clothes, and tears were the only things colored. From the amount of tracks in my house there was three."
"What?" Both males turned to see a silver haired man with bandaging wrapped from up neck all the way up to his left eye, his only visible eye red from just waking up. "Good morning Kakashi-san! How did you sleep?" both males smiled sweetly as the eldest plopped onto the couch grabbed a sandwich from Naruto's plate and took his tea. "I slept decently, now what were you talking about?" The blonde gulped at the silver haired mans seriousness but Iruka spoke up for him, "Naruto was telling me about some pranksters breaking into his home and tracking mud everywhere." Kakashi narrowed his eye. "And you said there were three?" Naruto could only nod while he grabbed himself a new cup of tea. "Yea. I don't know where they came from or where they went. But my door was locked the entire time. I've had to mop and wash my door and walls two times now. I'm certain by the time I go back home, there will be more." The blonde sighed and told the male in detail of everything that happened. "Hm.." Kakashi hummed as he drank his tea. "Well Naruto this is strange indeed, we had three children get lost in the woods yesterday but came back home. None of them will talk about anything other than a damn wolf." the silverette ran his fingers through his hair irritabley. Iruka cleared his throat grabbing their attention, "Anyway no more of that." Iruka smiled, "Kyuu-Kyuu is excited to go home with you for dinner, remember I'm bringing the dinner with me!" The blonde grinned, "Yea I'm excited too, I can't wait to eat your cooking Iruka!" Naruto stood up and hugged the two adults. "I gotta do my shopping for the week and I'll meet Kyuu-chan at the edge of the village." The two adults nodded and watched the blonde leave. "While we're there we have to keep out eyes peeled." Kakashi stated as a matter of factly, "I know. Maybe we should install a new lock on door? Or his gate?" Iruka asked worridly. "Yea.. I'll buy a lock and install it on his gate."
Naruto was at the market place, buying food for himself and feed for the animals. Everyone was giving him dirty looks. He quickly bought what he needed and sat in a tree outside of the village, waiting for Iruka, Kakashi, and Kyuubi to show up. It was another beautiful day, not to hot or cold, not too windy but windy enough to move his golden strands. "Hn.. So you're the infamous 'demon' of The Path?" warm air brushed against his cheek from behind and he quickly stood up on the branch and turned around. There was a dark looking male. Dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin.. "Who are you?" Naruto growled out, the person was not from the village. Dark onyx eyes looked him up and down, "I believe that is none of your business, Dobe." the blonde growled again, causing the raven male to smirk at the reaction he was getting. "Aniiiiiikkkiiiiii~!" Naruto looked away and saw his younger brother running toward him with a huge grin on his face. "Well looks like my time is up, farwell kitsune-san." The blonde looked back to where the other was standing. He was gone.. "Anikiii! What are you looking at!" The older of the two jumped down and picked up his brother. "Nothing Kyuu~" He softly nuzzled his younger brothers cheek and smiled as the small boy giggled. He sat the other on the ground and they began walking to his house. Those eyes on that guy still burning into his mind. They felt so familiar, that the thought gave him goose pimples.
'Who was that man? And how did he know about me?'
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Well! Time for my folk lore explination.
The original stories of Red Riding Hood was to warn child of a "wolf". It wasn't ment for a REAL wolf, but a predatory man such as a pedophile. Just imagine if you told your children, don't talk to strangers even if they're nice. They'll still do it. So basically calling the predatory men wolves it put more fear into the children to listen to their parents. Cause in a way, they were wolves. There's actually MORE explainations but this one, I like the most cause it fits to my story quite a bit. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for the quick views and thank you to the people that reviewed and followed the story!
