Three down… four to go… *more tears*
Warning… lots of angst… and probably profanity… who knows?
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Naruto lay on his bed for what seemed like days. His chest was numb, but he could tell the wounds had reopened when he moved. Blood trickled down his stomach, and the sheets stuck to him as it dried.
Naruto tried to string the jumbled fragments in his head into clear thoughts.
'I've got a murderer living inside of me. The nine tailed fox. He killed my fath…'
As if trying to deny the truth of the thought, Naruto's thoughts scrambled again and he wondered, 'Isn't today still a school day? Should I even go? Iruka will be worried if I don't.'
He looked over at the clock on his bedside table. It was 9:00 a.m. He was late for school. Did it matter? He wanted to disappear into a world of his own.
What was so different? … Countless times he'd waken up hurting and confused, but even then he always went to school the next day. He was more scared of what would happen if he didn't go.
Itachi might decide to come back.
But today…. Today was different. Naruto had been fooled by the snake. The apple from the tree wasn't even worth it.
Despite the nausea, Naruto rose from his bed. He needed to take a shower.
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"Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto whispered.
He was lying in the tub, the shower beating down on his pale body. He watched as his blood flowed into the drain…. His chest wasn't the only wound bleeding though.
Neat cuts across both wrists shined through the water. He held a razor lazily in his right hand. The pain was dull… just like the wound on his chest.
"You said you've been living in my body for a long time… I've had a murderer living in me… a lying, deceitful murderer who killed my f-father," he whispered again, angrier this time.
Kyuu finally spoke after what seemed like painful hours.
'Let me explain. It's not what it seems like… I didn't…'
"Explain what?" Natuto interrupted. "Do you want to explain how you killed each person? Or do you want to go into specific details about my father?"
'You know I'd never do something like that! I was stupid back then! If I'd known….I would have never… ever done that!'
"So what then, Kyuu? Would you kill them differently? Slit their throats so no one hears the screams this time?"
'You have every right to feel that way. But please… hear me out! I never meant to do it! It was an accident!'
"Oh, yeah! Because everyone out there accidentally murders a bunch of people."
'Let me explain! Please. Please!'
Naruto didn't speak. No matter how much he hated Kyuu, he couldn't ignore that voice. It reminded too much of…
The little boy stumbled through the street… all alone and crying… but no one was listening. They didn't want to listen… they didn't care. They just walked on by, pretending they couldn't see or hear the little beast in their streets… all he wanted was for someone to listen… to tell him he was alive… that he mattered. His blond hair covered his eyes for a moment and he tripped, crying louder. Why wouldn't anyone just look at him?
Kyuu took the silence as a chance to speak again.
'I swear I didn't mean to lie to you. I never meant to hurt you. I just… I didn't want you to do this, Naruto. '
Naruto looked down at his wrists. He felt a small, hysterical laugh bubble in his throat. This whole thing was so damn funny! Itachi… Kyuu… him… it was all so fucking cliché... why didn't he have his own fucking sitcom? The laughter gurgled up his throat, but only a strange choking sound erupted from his mouth.
'Naruto?'
The blond boy giggled on the floor of his bathtub. Pain sprinted up his arms, and his chest seemed to close in on him. He felt colder by the minute. Like he had slipped under a frozen lake and was quickly freezing to death.
Abruptly, the scenes around Naruto began to change. He was no longer lying naked in his bathroom.
Naruto stopped laughing.
Clothes he didn't even own suddenly covered his body. Ripped jeans and a sleeveless black shirt hugged his skin. Naruto was sitting upon a black king-sized bed. The pillows were soft silk against his hand.
Naruto stared at his hand. There was no blood…. No. He looked under his shirt… nothing but his own skin.
"W-what?"
Naruto looked around. The room was just as sumptuous as the bed he was seated on. Decorated with paintings and furniture, the room was breathtaking. Even the ceiling was beautiful, two angels covering its smooth surface, floating among big fluffy clouds.
He spotted a gleaming black statue of a fox, nine tails protruding from it instead of the normal one. He felt drawn to it immediately, stricken be a desire to touch the smooth surface.
"I think I know that color,' he murmured. The art teacher called it… upsetian… something like that."
"It's called obsidian."
Naruto didn't hear the usually echo in his head. He looked over to the doorway, gaping at the figure standing before him.
Naruto had suspected Kyuu was a guy even though he'd never actually seen the demon so, he'd expected a man with fierce, blazing eyes staring him down… tattoos… ripped clothes… maybe even a piercing somewhere. Naruto had imagined everything he thought would match the gravelly voice he spoke with…
… The woman leaning against the wall wasn't in that image.
Wearing a knee-high black dress, the woman watched Naruto curiously. Two thin straps supported her beautiful, tight fitted dress. The woman seemed sad… her thin lips curving into a sulk. Her hair, long and black, was pulled back into a tight and prim bun, exaggerating the frown she wore. Even her bright red eyes longed for tears to spring from them.
Three chains hung from her neck, but Naruto couldn't spot any piercings.
This explained why Kyuu always called him 'Kit' like a doting mother…. And why the room was so neat and well kept, not at all like any boy that Naruto had seen… not that he knew what many did with their time.
It also explained the whole mind reading thing.
If Naruto had learned one thing in his life, if was that women could read you like a book… even the mean ones. No… especially the mean ones.
"Naruto…"
Kyuu's desperate voice broke through his thoughts. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She looked so sad. Naruto wanted to hug her.
"…there was a monster loose in the town. It killed nearly everyone."
Naruto winced. He couldn't help but remember what Itachi had said.
"Naruto, look at me."
Naruto played with the tiny rip in the plush black comforter he was sitting on.
"Naruto!"
Naruto reacted hesitantly to the sound of approaching steps, crawling backwards on the bed. He didn't want her so close.
"Will you just listen to me?"
Naruto looked up slowly, studying Kyuu as she spoke.
'That day…I was in the forest. I'm a demon fox, and in your world— the real world, I have a frightening appearance; so naturally, the people in this town keep a distance from me. They used to make up scary stories about me to keep the people from wandering in the woods. I'd gotten used to it after a while... being alone. I mean, what more could they do, right? Well…I-I was wrong."
Despite his insecurity, Naruto's curiosity got the best of him.
"What happened?"
'That day, there was a little boy… he was looking for his dog. I was sleeping… and he was just looking for that… stupid…dog…"
Naruto watched Kyuu. She'd always sounded so confident and relaxed, but here, she was trembling. Her eyes were distant and panged with guilt
Naruto reached over to comfort her but quickly withdraw his arm. A scream for help resounded in his mind… this thing had killed his father. Thing? Did he even have a right to talk?
Kyuu wiped a tear away before it could fall. She spoke again, her voice cracking in Naruto's silence.
"The boy had been with- he'd been with a bunch of little kids in the beginning. I sensed them when I was asleep. That's how I woke up. They were helping him but left after a while. So, the boy looked for his dog alone.
I was being stupid… so stupid. I didn't hide like I usually do. I just sat there… listening as the boy moved through the trees. I don't know what I was thinking. I just sat there like an idiot."
Naruto felt his stomach clench. He didn't want to hear what happened next.
"One minute, he's staring at me with these…. Big, brown eyes… and the next, he's tripping and falling over roots, screaming at the top of his lungs. And I just watched him. He was crying. I—I just laughed at him. I was so tired of people judging me.
He ran, and I started to let him— I would have let him, but... he was going in the wrong direction. There was a cliff there! I knew he wouldn't be able to survive the fall, so I chased after him. I kept yelling for him to stop… but he just screamed and said I was trying to steal his soul… and then he-"
Kyuu stopped again. She licked her lips but it didn't seem to help. Naruto was still looking at her, unsure of what to think. Kyuu examined his eyes. She didn't know how he would react.
"What happened to him?" the Naruto asked. His eyes mirrored the pain in Kyuu's as she shuddered. He was beginning to understand there was more to this story than Itachi let on.
When Kyuu still didn't speak, he patted her gently on the shoulder, hesitantly, but without unnerving fear he'd first felt.
"Tell me. I know that whatever happened… caused my dad's death. I know that. I know that everyone believes you were the one responsible for it. I know that you killed a lot of people. I know all those things. And I also know…" he said pausing, checking the words with the gut feeling he had, "that you can't be the monster they all call you. Whatever happened back then… I can tell you're sorry. I can tell in the way you cry for them. But I need you to tell me what happened that day. He… he was my dad."
Kyuu looked up and gasped. In all the time she'd spent with Naruto, she'd never heard him speak so surely, and smile so genuinely. His words gave her courage, and his smile gave her strength. Her voice filled the room once again.
"The kid wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He kept his eyes on me. I kept telling him to stop… to look ahead of him, but he wouldn't turn around. I ran as fast as I could. If it wasn't for that trap I got caught in the day before, I would have caught him in no time."
She looked off as she spoke.
"I could see the trees parting up ahead… so I pushed myself even faster… but he kept running. I was so close that I heard him cry out as he fell off the cliff. I didn't even bother stopping. I just threw myself over.
It felt like we were falling in a time of our own. I-I reached for him. He was still crying, but he stretched out his arms and I felt his little hand for the smallest moment.
Naruto shifted on the bed. Kyuu was crying as she spoke now.
"The ground hit me hard. Something warm sprayed my fur. When I opened my eyes… I saw the boy, his body pierced by a rock. There was blood everywhere. I screamed, screamed until all I could do was cry."
Uneasily, Naruto reached out to Kyuubi. She nudged away his hand.
"What happened next involves your parents…"
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Naruto sat up straight; his body was tense. This was it.
"People arrived, weapons in hand. They saw the boy. My fur was covered in blood. They suspected the worse. Only trained fighters were there. They'd come prepared to fight me."
The room was deafeningly quiet. The air was suffocating. Naruto didn't dare to breathe.
"I growled at them. They weren't even concerned with the boy's body. Why did they only care about killing me? I never tried to hurt them. If they hadn't spread those rumors… the boy would have been alive. It was as much as their fault as mine. I was so angry… so angry and stupid.
Kyuu looked at Naruto as she whispered, "Your dad was there."
"My dad…" he said unsteadily, feeling numb as the words rolled off his tongue.
"I attacked first, throwing the closet person against a tree with my tail. He coughed up blood as he sunk to the forest, but I was past caring.
They immediately formed a circle around me… and I killed more than half the group before I saw your father.
He was different than the rest of them… he didn't approach me. I watched him even as I fought.
He used the rocks' sharp edges to elevate himself high enough to reach the boy. By the time he got the kid down, there was only me and him left. The others were sprawled around the ground, dead or dying. He didn't care that I was behind him, ripping a body apart.
I spoke to him.
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"What are you doing, human?"
Silence.
"Why do you turn your back to me? I could kill you so easily."
"Did you kill Yuuto?"
Kyuubi didn't know how to respond. She stared at the little boy in his arms, knowing that the man was referring to him.
"I- I didn't…" she stuttered, caught off guard by his composed demeanor. "He wouldn't stop… there was a cliff and he believed those stories they told him. I— yes. I think I did."
She stared remorsefully at the ground. She hadn't meant to. It wasn't really her fault. Those stupid villagers…
"Yuuto… he was like a son to me. He had no home… nowhere to go. I remember when he first arrived in our village. People were so weary of strangers back then. So much had happened. They couldn't take any chances. But I couldn't bear it. I took him in. At first, I felt I had to. But I grew to care for him as my own son… Tomorrow, he was supposed to go meet his new baby brother. My wife… my wife will be devastated."
Kyuubi tensed. The man's mouth curled into an unnerving smile.
"I guess you'll have to meet him instead."
Kyuu was frozen to the ground, her eyes on the mysterious man. His blue eyes sparked a fear in her she'd never felt before as he knelt to the ground. She couldn't run. What was he planning to do?
I guess that's why they say curiosity killed the cat.
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This. Took. So. Long. To. Redo. Argh.
