A/N: All right, now we get into some more non-canon stuff. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or His Dark Materials.
Soul Wounds Trilogy
Book One
The Boy with Two Daemons
Chapter Three
Sasuke, Digadi, Sakura, and Igesu: Friends or Foes?
The day was bright, but just barely warm enough to go without a jacket—some daemons with thin fur were hiding in the shirts of their humans, while others paced along proudly at their sides or sat atop their heads or shoulders.
Naruto was just waking up, with Ehetia stretching out her long martin body next to him, her little mouth open in the largest yawn her form could procure. Naruto picked her up in his arms, tossed his nightcap to the side, and got up out of bed, heading for the calendar. The fifteenth was circled in bright red marker.
"Today's the day!" Ehetia said excitedly, coming out of her sleep-induced stupor.
A wide grin fell across Naruto's face. "Yeah," he said. "Time to get ready!"
Breakfast was ramen and milk for him—Ehetia, being a daemon nourished by her human's own health, ate nothing, but merely washed herself.
"What form should I choose for today for the orientation?" she asked, standing in front of a low-down mirror and cycling through several different options. "I could be a martin, an eagle, or a fox, or I could be something else."
"I like your fox form best, personally," Naruto said through a mouthful of noodles. "It'd be cool if you settled that way."
"Is that a hint?" Ehethia asked, becoming her fox form and leaping up onto the table. "Grow up," she ordered, "and I"ll settle."
Naruto laughed. "You'll settle when you're ready," he said, and chugged down some of the milk.
After breakfast, Naruto got dressed and placed his goggles on his head as usual. "Why are you putting those on?" Ehetia asked smartly, picking his headband up in her mouth so that it caught the light. "You should be wearing this, Mr. Ninja."
Naruto smiled and took the headband from her. "Yeah, you're right!" he said brightly, and tied it around his forehead.
---
A few minutes later, Naruto and Ehetia were walking down the street toward the academy. Ehetia sighed when she noticed the horizontally-marked cloth that signified Konohamaru and Iegi failing at their attempts to hide.
When Naruto got close enough, both boy and daemon jumped out from behind the cloth, Konohamaru shouting, "You're mine, Naruto!" But, as was normal, it seemed, Konohamaru tripped on the cloth and fell flat on his face. Iegi yelped and rubbed her nose with her raccoon paws, thumping her human angrily with her tail.
"What are you doing, Konohamaru?" Naruto asked.
"That was a slick move," Konohamaru said, still lying flat on his face. His daemon had stopped hitting him with her tail by now. "That's why I respect you as a rival." He got up on his hands and knees and then stood. Naruto was impressed by the fact that the boy didn't cry this time.
There was a short pause before Naruto said, "But I didn't do anything."
Konohamaru readied his hands for a seal. "All right," he said. "Now fight us fair and square!"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Sorry," he said, "but me and Ehetia've got an orientation to go to."
"Orientation?" Konohamaru asked.
"Yep," Naruto said. Ehetia barked from his shoulder. "As of today, I'm a ninja." He pointed to his headband and drew pleasure from the look of astonishment and admiration on Konohamaru's face. Naruto grinned and laughed a bit.
---
Sakura stood in front of a mirror in her room, pulling her hair back with her new headband while her hare daemon, Igesu, sat beside her on the footstool, sitting upright and watching her.
"How do I look, lovebird?" she asked her daemon affectionately.
"Do you have to call me that?" the hare moaned, pulling his paws over his ears so that his eyes were covered. "Just call me Igesu, like you're supposed to. And anyway, you look fine."
Sakura rolled her eyes and rubbed her daemon's head. "Fine, thanks, Igesu," she said sarcastically.
"Sakura!" her mother called suddenly from downstairs. "Isn't it time for you to get going?"
Sakura sighed. "I know!" she said angrily. "I'm on my way out now!"
"How long is she going to treat us like a kid?" Igesu asked, flicking his ears in an annoyed way. "Even though I'm not settled yet, we're a ninja now!"
---
Now the two of them walked down the street toward the academy, Igesu as a bobcat pacing along beside Sakura.
"We're not a little academy student anymore," he was saying. "We're a ninja. Haruno Sakura—kunoichi, with the help of her wonderful daemon Igesu, of course." He bumped her leg playfully with his side, and her hand fell automatically to scratch that special place along his neck. His eyes slitted in pleasure.
"See you later!" That was Ino's voice, coming from the flower shop. Heji, as a caracal (even though he wasn't settled he liked to pretend that he was and often chose this form), padded alongside her as she left through the front way.
She turned and looked to see Sakura and Igesu. Heji stiffened beside her. "Good morning, Sakura, Igesu," she said with an arched eyebrow.
"Good morning, Ino, Heji," Sakura replied, and stepped forward. The two girls and their daemons began walking together, though the daemons didn't have the type of rivalry their humans did between them.
"So they actually let you graduate?" Ino asked scathingly. "What a surprise."
"Those classes are ancient history," Sakura said. "We're both ninja now, and we're both equal. I won't lose to you anymore." With those words, Igesu changed himself into a startlingly red jaguarundi, holding his head proudly and waving his rudder-like tail from side to side.
In response, Heji changed from a caracal to an Asiatic golden cat, twice the size now of Igesu and quite a bit stronger in build.
Igesu changed again, but he was not trying to be larger, merely a more specified, beautiful cat. Why a cat, he didn't know, but since Heji enjoyed the feline shape so much, he felt it would be fun to beat the daemon at his own game. He didn't even particularly care that much—it was his human what wanted him to change, so he did, into an oncilla. Slightly smaller than his jaguarundi form, his oncilla form was nonetheless beautiful and exotic, and Heji was eager to play the game.
But it seemed as though Igesu was wrong—Heji wasn't interested in cycling through cat forms. A fossa was what came next for him, and Igesu allowed himself to continue the game as well, all the way until they reached the academy. It was both a fun and frustrating game, because it was Sakura's and Ino's wills that drove it, but there was no clear winner, and they entered the classroom with Igesu as a fishing genet and Heji back to his normal caracal.
Naruto was sitting at his desk, playing with Ehetia's ears, when a boy named Shikamaru passed him, his blackbird daemon Egyasen on his shoulder. He seemed surprised to see Naruto and Ehetia there, and turned to them incredulously.
"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. "This isn't for dropouts—you can't be here unless you graduated."
Naruto flared up and said, "Oh yeah, Shikamaru? Do you see this headband? It's regulation. We're gonna be training together—how do you like that?"
Shikamaru didn't answer.
From over in her corner, watching Naruto, a girl named Hinata sat withdrawn with her mouse daemon Hedega in the crook of her arm. "So Naruto graduated after all?" Hedega whispered. "That's a relief."
Sakura, Igesu, Ino, and Heji had entered the classroom at this point, and Naruto looked up to see the pink haired kunoichi with her fishing genet. Ehetia was eyeing Igesu dreamily, the way he was colored like a fox but in the shape of a genet. It was widely known that Igesu's greatest skill was changing and merely being beautiful—many wondered what he would settle into, or if he would settle at all.
But Sakura had no eyes for Naruto. She was staring at the boy next to him—Sasuke, was his name—and his serval daemon Digadi. Digadi had already settled, and while no one knew why, many of the students were jealous for her long legs and slim, specialized body. Igesu changed himself into a serval, perhaps to impress her, while Sakura charged over, shoving Naruto out of the way.
"Hi, Sasuke," Sakura said timidly, and while the boy paid no attention, Digadi greeted Igesu with a polite sniff to the nose. "Mind if I sit next to you?"
"Back off, Forehead," Ino said, grabbing Sakura by the arm. Heji was also a serval now, and leaped upon the table, hissing at Igesu. Igesu, forgetting his serval form, changed into a small clouded leopard and arched his back angrily.
Other girls began crowding around, vying for the seat next to Sasuke and Digadi. Some of their daemons were birds, some were canines, but none really joined the confrontation between Heji and Igesu—Heji was blinking and backing away with each spit Igesu threw at him—watching them instead for weaknesses.
Digadi leaned on Sasuke's shoulder. "Clueless," she muttered to him, and he nodded his agreement.
---
The lot of them leaned over the crystal ball: Sarutobi and Gijega, Hatake Kakashi and his heavily scarred puma daemon Hiye, along with the other instructors and their own daemons. Among them were Yuhi Kurenai and her mussurana daemon Yee, and Sarutobi Asuma with his wolverine daemon Eyegdu.
"Most promising student Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi mused.
"His daemon Digadi looks weak," Hiye commented. Her voice was raspy, as though she'd had her throat torn before and it had never completely healed. Indeed, scars at least a foot long and as wide as a finger marred her neck, face, back, and sides like patchwork, striping her ash-gray pelt like a tiger, almost.
"Yes, he's the one," Sarutobi said. "And you know what happened to him, Hiye, to make her that weak."
"Yes," the puma said, flicking a torn ear apologetically. She turned her head to see the crystal out of her good eye—her left eye, with a deep, deep scar over it, was clouded with blindness, and her torn ear, the left one, was half deaf, but everyone respected her as one of the most powerful daemons in the village simply because of her experience, and what she went through to obtain such scars.
"He's the only survivor left from the Uchiha clan," Kurenai said. Yee had himself coiled around her upper arm, his dark gray head hovering near her own.
"That's right," Sarutobi confirmed.
"Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" Kakashi asked when the image changed to focus on the boy and Ehetia, who was still as a fox. "His daemon takes the shape of the nine-tails."
"Ehetia, I believe she's called," Hiye said. "The Kyuubi's chakra does this to her, Hokage-sama?" The puma's good eye darted up to see Sarutobi, who was nodding. "What happens if she settles in such a form?"
"The nine-tails has a better chance of killing her," Sarutobi said with a sigh. "She becomes a channel for its chakra."
A rumble deep in Hiye's chest signified her low growl of displeasure at this fact, and Kakashi placed a hand calmly on her head, tracing a scar there with his finger.
---
Thrown back against the sides of one of the desks, Naruto felt his anger rise, and felt Ehetia's fur prickle beneath his hand as her hackles rose. He went to stand in front of Sasuke on top of the desk, crouching there. Ehetia was glaring at Digadi, who had her large ears turned forward in interest.
Sasuke looked up at Naruto, who was not more than an inch from his face, as Digadi studied Ehetia's odd eyes. The slitted pupils of a house cat who was staring straight into the sun, but irises the color of the brightest blood... yes, odd was the word for them.
"Naruto, stop glaring at Sasuke!" Sakura shouted angrily. Igesu was still crouched in his clouded leopard form, and he turned now to hiss openly at Naruto.
"Why are they so obsessed with your human?" Ehetia asked Digadi curiously.
"How should I know?" the serval hissed, and Ehetia was slightly surprised by her anger. "Do you think we like it?" She glared pointedly at the chattering girls and their daemons. Ehetia barked her laughter.
"Do you know what we wouldn't give for that kind of attention?" she asked the serval, who stiffened.
"I don't care," Digadi snapped, and, frowning now, Ehetia backed away.
From behind Naruto, a boy reached back with his elbow and bumped him by accident, sending him forward. Ehetia and Digadi both watched in horror, along with the girls and their daemons, as the boys' lips practically fell on top of each other.
Ehetia started and became a pine martin almost instantly, hiding her face behind the bush of her tail in embarrassment and shame, and Digadi pulled her face and ears back in a hiss.
The chatter stopped, and all eyes were on the awkward scene for the long seconds that it took for the boys to part. As soon as it was done, Sakura screamed and Igesu leaped into the air at the noise, flying to her as a sparrow so she could clutch him to her breast as a hare.
Naruto and Sasuke managed to release each other and held their throats in agony and disgust.
"Naruto!" Ehetia yelped, jumping up. Naruto turned to see where she was staring—an angry mob of girls and their daemons were staring him down, the daemons eyeing Ehetia, who had lowered herself piteously before them.
"It was an accident!" Naruto said, holding his hands up.
Sakura cracked her knuckles.
---
"As of today," Iruka said, Yideyu on his shoulder. His arm was still in a sling—Yideyu had dislocated it again trying to fly, and it was now rumored around the school that she was scheduled for a surgery to reinforce the socket. Naruto was worried for his sensei, of course, despite Iruka's frequent attempts to stop that. "You are all ninja. To get here, you faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin. All the genin will be grouped into three-man squads."
Yideyu laughed a bit as she looked at Naruto, who was bruised and battered but otherwise unharmed from the girls' attack on him. Ehetia lay beside him as a fox, licking his face.
"Each squad will be led by a jounin," Iruka continued, ignoring his daemon.
"You hear that, Sakura?" Igesu asked, a hare now. "A three-man squad."
"Well," Ino said from behind her, "someone's gotta be in Sasuke's group. I wonder who."
"I dunno," Sakura said nonchalantly.
"Groups of three will only slow us down," Digadi hissed next to her own human.
"I hope it's not that Sasuke-bastard," Ehetia growled, glaring out of the corner of her eye at Digadi.
"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up," Iruka was saying. "I will now announce the squads. Squad Seven: Uzumaki Naruto and Ehetia. Haruno Sakura and Igesu. Uchiha Sasuke and Digadi.
"Next, Squad Eight: Hyuuga Hinata and Hedega. Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru. Aburame Shino and Degg.
"Now Squad Ten: Yamanaka Ino and Heji. Nara Shikamaru and Egyasen. Akimichi Chouji and Pegdess. Those are all the squads."
Naruto stood up angrily, pointing to Sasuke. "Iruka-sensei!" he said. "Why does a great ninja like me have to be in the same group with a slug like Sasuke?"
Iruka looked up, but it was Yideyu who spoke. Though she was a teacher, she rarely spoke, as Iruka's duties were much less hands-on than field-work. "Sasuke's were the best scores in the graduating class," she cawed. "Naruto, you had the worst scores."
The class laughed.
"To create a balanced group, we put the best student with the worst student."
"Just make sure you don't get in my way, loser," Sasuke growled from where he sat.
Naruto turned to him. "Hey, what was that?" he snapped.
"Hard of hearing?" Sasuke asked blandly, and the class laughed again.
"Knock it off, Naruto, sit down!" Sakura ordered, and Igesu glared at Ehetia reproachfully. His bright green eyes intimidated her, and she narrowed hers and lay down.
"After lunch, you'll meet your new jounin teachers," Iruka continued, heedless of what was going on. "Until then, class dismissed."
---
Outside, it was nearly noon, and Igesu, as a bobcat, was going around with Sakura searching for Sasuke. She was calling for him in that desperate sort of way when a mother is looking for her child.
"Why did he go running off so fast?" she asked.
"Who knows?" Igesu said, licking his paw and running it over his head.
"Since we're in the same group and all, I thought we could have lunch together and get to know each other."
"We'll find him," Igesu said placatingly. "Don't worry about it. We have the next few years to get to know each other, right?"
"I guess," Sakura said.
"Hey, Sakura!" It was Naruto. Ehetia was sitting around his shoulders as a fox. "Since we were in the same group, I thought we could have lunch together and get to know each other."
"Why would I eat lunch with you?" Sakura snapped. "How could that thought even go through your head?"
"But we're in the same group," Naruto interjected, "so I just thought..."
"Naruto," Sakura said, "you're annoying." Then she turned away and proceeded to search for Sasuke. Igesu padded along at her heels.
"Don't worry about her," Ehetia growled. "She's hateful, just like all the others."
Naruto sighed.
---
They sat atop the water tower now, Naruto and Ehetia.
"What a pain," Naruto said. "I finally get into the same group as Sakura, and he's gotta be in it too."
"His daemon's a bitch," Ehetia snarled.
"There's got to be a way to deal with this," Naruto said.
Then there was a sound. Looking up, Naruto noticed Sasuke eating his lunch just inside a window across the way. Digadi was sitting on the window sill, washing her leg.
"I've got a plan!" Naruto hissed, and began whispering into his daemon's ear.
---
So it came that Sakura sat alone on a stone bench, eating her lunch from a bento box. Igesu lay beside her on his side with his bobcat head resting on her knee, enjoying the breeze that fanned his fur.
"I told you, there's no rush," he said lazily. "You'll be in the same group as Sasuke for a long time."
"Still," she said sadly, rubbing his side lightly. "How could he ever like me? Let's face it—I'm scrawny and small, except for my forehead. Why was I born with such a big wide forehead?"
Igesu chuckled softly and licked her knee with his grating tongue. "What am I, chopped liver?" he asked. "Don't worry, Sakura, I'll help you win him over."
"Thanks, Igesu," Sakura said brightly, and she leaned over to kiss his shoulder and bury her nose in his warm fur.
It was then that she noticed, with great embarrassment, that Sasuke was standing across the cobbled street, leaning against a tree with Digadi sitting beside him. His arms were crossed and he was smiling.
But Sakura sighed and rested her elbows on her knees, forcing Igesu to move his head and sit up. He yawned, not really caring that Sasuke was there, then stretched, digging his claws into the bench with an audible scratching noise. Shaking himself out, he became a jaguarundi and lay back down, this time with his head hanging over the bench's edge.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, and he sounded much closer than he looked, "your forehead is so wide and charming, it makes me feel like kissing it."
Igesu looked up sharply with interest at Sasuke, then at Digadi beside him. "Is this for real?" he asked in the language of the daemons, but Digadi said nothing.
"Just kidding," Sasuke said, as if in answer to Igesu's question. "That's the kind of dumb thing Naruto would say."
Sakura sighed.
"I wanna ask you something," Sasuke continued, sitting down next to her. "What do you think of him, anyway? Naruto, I mean."
"He knows about my feelings," Sakura replied, "and he purposefully tries to get in the way. He enjoys interfering and making me feel bad. Naruto doesn't understand one single thing about me or Igesu. He and that Ehetia of his are just annoying." And then she became slightly meek, lowering her voice into a high-pitched whisper. "All I want is for you to accept me Sasuke, that's all."
"You just want me to accept you?" Sasuke asked, seemingly dumbfounded.
Sakura blushed slightly. "Yes," she said. "That's how I feel. I'd do anything for that."
Spurred by Sakura's feelings, Igesu changed himself into a serval like Digadi, then leapt down from the bench and flicked his ears as an invitation for her to join him. Surprisingly, she did, and they sniffed each other's noses in greeting.
Sakura, meanwhile, on the bench, had pursed her lips together and had leaned forward toward Sasuke, who looked shocked and didn't know what to do. How could his daemon be so calm?
---
What was Naruto's plan? He spoke softly to Ehetia and she grinned her agreement, aiding him as they slunk across the divide and leapt through the window in a small attack. At first, it was they who were pinned down, but Ehetia escaped and grabbed Digadi by the back, forcing her down while Naruto subdued Sasuke after freeing himself. It had been simple, easy to surprise them both because Sasuke did not know any of Naruto's skills. Now it was Sasuke who lay tied up on the floor of his apartment, Digadi just now waking up and starting to teethe apart the rope.
"In class," she hissed through her teeth, "he couldn't even do a single replication. Not like the many he did just a while ago. How could he give that idiot daemon of his the chance to escape and then combine it with a shadow clone jutsu like that? What bullshit!"
---
"It's true," Sakura muttered, her lips still pursed and her eyes now closed. "I'm desperate."
I finally know why I like Sakura so much, Naruto thought, still disguised as Sasuke, and he leaned toward her as well. I finally understand.
But then there was a twisting in his stomach, an awful twisting that Ehetia felt as well, and she began to squirm and arch her back as though she were trying to escape it.
What rotten timing! Naruto thought as he leaped up, grabbed Ehetia, and ran. He needed a bathroom. It didn't matter where, he just needed one!
"Hey, what's the matter?" Sakura asked, shocked.
"I'll be right back!" Naruto called back as Sasuke, and then he ran faster.
"Who knew he was so shy?" Igesu laughed, jumping up into Sakura's lap as a genet.
"Maybe he needs a little time to get ready," Sakura offered, stroking her daemon and blushing furiously at the same time.
---
"My stomach was so upset I almost lost control of the jutsu," Naruto sighed once he and Ehetia were safely in the bathroom. "That was too close."
"Just take your crap already!" Ehetia whined, her normal fox form once again. "My stomach's upset because your stomach's upset!" She wriggled around the stall floor to prove her point.
"Why did it have to happen right then, just as she was about to... argh!" Naruto growled.
"She thinks that we're annoying!" Ehetia said angrily. "She said that at least twice! We transform into Sasuke, get close to her, and she has to say that?"
"I know what we should do," Naruto said, a smirk on his face. "We can make Sasuke and Digadi act obnoxious. Then she'll hate them more than us."
---
Sakura still sat fidgeting on the bench, waiting for Sasuke's return. She had her fingers entwined in Igesu's fur, who was purring like there was no tomorrow, but then there was a noise, and she looked up.
It was Sasuke and Digadi, but he wasn't even looking at her.
"Sasuke, you're back!" Sakura said excitedly, and Igesu jumped down to greet Digadi, but she was ignoring him too. "Don't be so shy, you bad boy! Are you ready now? Mentally prepared? I am—raring to go!"
Digadi shoved Igesu bodily aside and continued to follow her human, leaping up onto his shoulder after a few steps.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Sakura said, turning around.
"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh see," Sakura snorted, "there you go—changing the subject again. Anyway, Naruto just picks fights with you. You know why he's so annoying? It's 'cause he wasn't raised right. I mean, look at Ehetia—she's practically feral, and have you ever noticed those damn eyes of hers? Downright creepy if you ask me.
"He doesn't have a mother or father, no one to teach him right from wrong. Think about it—he just does whatever comes into his head."
Digadi stiffened and looked back at Sakura with a cold brown gaze, but the girl didn't notice.
"If I did things like Naruto," she was continuing, "forget it. My parents would get mad, and I'd get in trouble, so of course I don't do it."
Now Sasuke removed Digadi from his shoulder and held her in his arms instead so he could glare at Sakura himself, but she still didn't notice the iciness of his gaze.
"But if you don't have parents to tell you, how would you know? He's selfish and bratty. He's all alone."
Sasuke looked away after the last word of her sentence. He repeated it. "Alone," he said quietly. "Isolated. It's not about your parents scolding you. You have no idea what it means to be alone."
"Wh-why are you saying that?" Sakura stammered, pulling her arm up across her chest.
"Because," he said, turning to her. "You're annoying."
Sakura stood stock still, and Igesu bristled, watching Sasuke leave with his daemon right beside him.
---
"That's a good plan," Ehetia agreed, ready to work now that her stomach had calmed down.
"Then what are we still doing sitting on the can?" Naruto asked. "Let's go!" He raced out of the bathroom, Ehetia skidding around the curve with him on her sharp fox claws, and then they both skidded to a halt.
Sasuke was walking toward them.
"Sasuke!" Naruto said angrily. "What are you doing here? How did you get loose?"
"I used the escape jutsu on Digadi and she pulled my ropes free. No sweat."
Ehetia glared at Digadi, who had pulled her lips back over her fangs in a hiss. Ehetia returned the gesture, adding a high growl to her baring of teeth.
"Why'd you do that?" Sasuke asked, and there was some honesty and sincerity in his voice. "Transform into me?"
"I thought it'd be fun to try out my moves on you, so I did," Naruto retorted hotly. Then, without further notice, he swept his hands into the seal for the shadow clone jutsu. Instantly there were a handful of Narutos and Ehetias in the hallway. The Narutos went for Sasuke, and the Ehetias made for Digadi.
"The same technique again?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.
"This time you'll see what I can really do," Naruto growled. "You're going down!"
But Ehetia yelped then, and it wasn't because Digadi had retaliated. There was another rancid twisting in her stomach, and all of her clones disappeared along with Naruto's.
They rushed back to the bathroom together, and made it just in time.
"What a loser," Digadi hissed, leaping up into Sasuke's arms.
---
"I'm annoying?" Sakura asked. "That's what he said. Now I get it. This is how Naruto must feel. We shouldn't treat him like that. Next time we're going to be nice, right?" She looked down at Igesu, a tabby still in her arms, and he nodded, smiling.
"Maybe I ate something bad." It was Naruto's voice. A whining peal of annoyance heralded Ehetia in her fox form, and Sakura looked up, eager to keep the promise she just made to her daemon and herself.
"Hey, Naruto!" she called. "Let's walk back to class together!"
"Did she really just say that?" Ehetia asked so only her human would understand. She looked up at him reluctantly as Sakura laughed. "She would never! It must be Sasuke!" And she began to growl again.
"Trying to trick us, huh?" Naruto asked angrily. "Well, it's not going to work!" Then there was yet another twisting, and Ehetia felt she could have cried.
"God dammit!" she shouted, and it came out in such a way so that Sakura understood it as well, and she looked shocked. Ehetia couldn't have cared less at the moment. "Get us to a fucking bathroom!" she screamed.
Naruto grabbed her around her middle (she could have killed him were he someone else) and raced back along the road toward the bathroom.
Sakura stood shocked for a few seconds before she felt the familiar rage at him bubble up again. "Naruto!" she shouted. "Fine! Forget me being nice to you!"
"That was fast," Igesu remarked with a grin.
---
Kakashi, Hiye, Sarutobi and Gijega stood in Naruto's apartment, in his kitchen. Hiye had her paws up on the window, looking out and breathing the fresh air wafting through.
"So this is where Naruto lives?" Kakashi asked.
"He has a nice view," Hiye commented. "You can see the Hokage Mountain from here."
"Yes," Sarutobi said. "He and Ehetia will be on your team, along with Haruno Sakura and Sasuke from the Uchiha clan. Good luck. You'll need it." Gijega laughed quietly.
Hiye hopped down from the window and paced around the kitchen a ways. "This place smells," she said, lifting her lip above a tooth. "Does he ever clean it?"
"It's doubtful," Gijega replied. "He and Ehetia have other things to worry about."
"That daemon of his," Hiye continued. "She will be my sole responsibility, yes? It would break taboo for Kakashi to even go near enough to brush her fur."
"Yes," Sarutobi said again. "It would be wise of you to watch her and make sure she settles properly, without much trauma, like you did."
Hiye grunted the affirmative. "Trauma or not, I want to see what happens if Naruto loses control for a moment. If she will change, regardless of her being settled. I suppose the only good thing about his having the Kyuubi in him is that he can never be cut from her. They can be separated but never cut."
"And yet that is also a disadvantage," Kakashi said. "Those that are cut from their daemons can go far, even farther than those that are just separated—sometimes it saves their lives."
"True," Hiye said. "But those that are cut can die from the shock. Being separated is much safer."
"Yes," Kakashi mused, and he knew she spoke of their own experience. Trauma was something they both knew well, and flirted with very often, if one were to judge by the amount of scars Hiye had. Soul wounds, they were called. Marks made only by trauma, and the only marks that could be made upon a daemon to create a scar.
Kakashi reached for a milk carton sitting on Naruto's table. It was unwise to leave milk out for more than a few minutes—it should have been in the fridge. "This milk is way past its expiration date," he said. "One sip of this and he'd be running to the bathroom all day. Seems like this kid's just one big problem."
"If I get another scar from that daemon of his," Hiye growled, "if that Kyuubi spirit in her so much as nibbles on my toe—God, I'll rip off her damn head!"
"Easy, Hiye," Kakashi said sharply, and she calmed down slightly.
"I'm half deaf in one ear and blind in one eye," she said. "If I lose anything else, it'll be your balls."
"I'll keep that in mind," the silver-haired jounin said with a sigh. How he came to have a daemon like that, he'd never know.