The Ghost of You
A/N:Hello again for the next installment of this story. this will lead up to the next chapter as they are both basically 2 halfs of a whole hope you like it!
Chapter 3: The Fox's Grin
Sakura began to walk away when she noticed something, it was beginning to get hazy. Not that it wasn't strange for there to be haze in august, just strange that there was when it wasn't that humid. It got thicker as she stood there. Others began to notice as well. It was then than the pink haired kunoichi noticed a figure walking toward her in the haze. Certain details were obscured, but she caught the cold blue slitted eyes, the unruly blonde hair, and the half of leaf village headband hanging from the individuals waist. Sakura quickly over came her shock and went into a fighting stance.
"There is no need to fight, I've only came for the bounty on this," Came the deep rich voice. An object landed in front of her feet and she stared at the horror in the eyes of Itachi's head. She noticed the neck had been chewed on, like it was ripped offed by large dogs or wolves.
"And you are?" she asked, trying to hold back any emotion.
"I am a ghost from the past, that is all I know," came the monotone reply.
"Then why did you kill this man?"
"Who says I did it," something wasn't right, most people backed off in terror and tossed him the money. He began to left the mist from the jutsu he was using. It was then that a flash of pink appeared right before him. Naruto countered the blow just in time and took hold of her wrist. They stared at each other for a second. "You are the one from my dreams."
Sakura stared back at him with shock. I had to be Naruto. Though there was noticeable changes, like the fox like ears and the whiskers. She also felt the claws that lightly dug into her wrist. He smiled lightly when he spoke to her, then came closer to her. She felt his breath on her neck as he spoke in her ear, "Oh angel from my dreams, tell me who you are. I'm sure I knew you in my previous life, before I awoke from that cursed lake."
Oh Kami-sama! It's Naruto, but he doesn't remember me. Her face sadden as tears welled up in her eyes. "You don't remember me? Then you truly did die, leaving your Sakura-chan to suffer for not recognizing your love before." she cried as all her fears and emotions welled up before screaming out, "Forgive me Naruto! I never wanted to hurt you!"
He stared into her eyes just before his head jerked and those deep blue eyes glazed over in pain and closed. He slumped forward into her arms as she looked up to see Jiraiya standing there, a sad look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Naruto," was all he could manage to say.
Three days had passed, and the whole village was abuzz. Various thing were mentioned about ghosts and zombies, but by far the most talked about was the return of the demon. None of the younger generations understood what it all meant, for the sandaime's law was still in effect. Of course the "Konoha 11" were just happy that their missing member was home, safe, and alive.
Naruto's room at the hospital was guarded by two ANBU, a Fox and Ferret. While they remained stoic like good ANBU, a storm of emotions were present behind those masks. Neither of them spoke, knowing the other had feelings for the room's occupant. One tried to sort out feelings that had developed in the last three years while the other fought back the feeling she had felt for Naruto all the way back from the academy. Strangely they both thought the same thing, I hope he remembers me again.
Inside the room was a different story. Instead of storming emotions there was quiet contempt. Kyuubi was giving Naruto the silent treatment for being so distracted that he was caught. Naruto was thankful that the dumb fox was quiet for once. He slept soundly on the bed, curled up with his tail covering the lower half of his face. His ears twitched as the door opened revealing to woman. One was blonde with a green diamond mark on her forehead, while the other was a darker brown hair with two red fang like marks on her cheeks.
"Hello Naruto," Said the Blond, "How are you today? Do you remember who I am?"
Naruto stretched and sat up on the bed like a fox would and yawned, "I'm fine, the fur ball is being quiet so I can sleep peacefully. Besides calling you Blondie, I can't recall ever meeting you. Well I think I had a dream about you once, but you were on a giant slug. So I guess no, but your smell reminds me of comfort, like an obaa-chan."
Tsunade's right eye twitched at the statement, but she was polite instead, "I'm the Hokage of Konoha, Tsunade, this is Inuzuka Hana. We're here to check up on you."
"She smells of dogs. I don't like dogs," Naruto plainly said though his tail puffed up as Hana stepped closer.
Hana smile and spoke in a calming tone, "That is because I'm the village's vet. Tsunade-sama asked me to come to take a look at your, um more animal like features." She held out her hand for him to sniff and with the other, placed a piece of dango down next to him. Naruto sniffed her hand then quickly ate the dango and hopped down on the floor on all fours. He stood up and Hana looked in shock as he had to be over 190 cm tall. Incredible, being he was only suppose to be 16 at the oldest. "Um, I'm going to need you to strip down," she said with just a slight blush.
Naruto just shrugged and stripped as asked. While he was muscular, it was apparent that he was suffering from slight undernourishment. Besides the ears, tail, whiskers, slitted pupils, fangs, and claws. He was definitely human. Hana even found out that his tail was prehensile, as he stole another piece of dango from her pouch. The two woman had him get dressed again and he sat down like them. He found it oddly familiar and kinda fun. He sniffed the air and yawned again.
"Apparently I'm a desirable mate for humans," he said nonchalantly.
Both women jerked upright and looked at him with shock. "What makes you say that?!" exclaimed Tsunade.
He simply shrugged and pointed to his nose, "I can smell it. Just like I can smell fear." He then grinned and scratched the back of his head.
Tsunade shook her head. He is so like is old self yet, so not like him. He has some of the same habits, but this whole fox thing has my worried. Just how much of him is Naruto and how much is the Kyuubi? "Naruto, you can't just assume that from what you smell is attraction. Humans are different from foxes."
"Why do you call me Naruto?"
"That is your name, what did you think it was?"
"Kit, or brat. That is what the fox calls me."
Hana leaned forward, "What fox?"
Tsunade dreaded the answer. Hana was one of those that still didn't know the truth about the Kyuubi. "Why the Kyuubi no Kitsune, don't you have a demon sealed in you also?" was Naruto's innocent answer. Hana's eyes widen in disbelief.
"No! That demon was destroyed by the yondaime almost sixteen years ago!" Hana stood up and backed away from Naruto before turning to leave. Tsunade stopped her and told her the truth. "But how can that be? Why would the sandaime lye to us?"
"He did it believing if his own peers were ignorant of it, maybe he would be treated better," Tsunade looked at Naruto with pity, "Unfortunately, it didn't work that way."
Outside the door, Sakura was shocked. She had heard everything and still couldn't believe that Naruto had held the demon fox. No wonder my parents hated him, she thought. She even felt horrible because of what she had done to him over the years. And now, he was back, that damned demon the only one telling him what to do for three years. Even though she felt love for him, she was also scared. Not of him, but for him. The villagers would want to kill him for being a demon. She felt so utterly hopeless. After all these years, he was back, but lacked his memory.
She stood perfectly still like a good ANBU. Hinata wondered if Sakura had heard what what was said in the room. Either way, she felt something. Pity for Naruto, having to life without memories and the damned nine-tails sealed inside of him. It was no wonder the village hated him. They saw him as a demon, not someone protecting them from a demon.
They both glanced as the door opened and the two women exited. Tsunade turned to the fox masked one, "You can take him to his apartment if you want, I assume it is still habitable?"
sakura blushed lightly under her mask. "It is hokage-sama," she replied calmly, "I know who is living there now and it would be fine for Naruto-san to live there."
The older Blond gave a suspicious look, "Oh? And how would you know?"
Fox glanced at Ferret before answering, "It was entrusted to my care by the owner three years ago. I have been living there since."
The blond boy now stood in the doorway and cocked his head slightly. His eyes glazed over slightly as he had an internal dialog.
"Is she talking about a home? A place I left?"
"Yes, Kit, a place you left."
"But didn't that Orochimaruperson say that my home was destroyed?"
"And you believe that snake bastard?"
"No, but he did give us a way to come back here. He gave us the information on Akatsuki."
Naruto looked at the two ANBU and the Hokage before smiling, "So where is this den of mine, or ours? Wait we're we mates?"
Tsunade tried to keep a straight face as Sakura stiffened at the question. It was Hinata that replied, "You two were on the same team."
It's going to be a long day, thought Sakura as she just complied with Tsunade's orders.
