Nozomi visited Lee often at the hospital, among others. She found a new friend in Hinata, a girl with rather pretty white eyes and a familiar shy disposition. Ino was nice enough, but she was too nosy and quite cruel with her words.
However it was when she visited the hot springs that she finds both amusement and exasperation.
That damn pervert is there!
Spotting a woman with all the grace of a vicious kunoichi nearby and being avoided by the others, Nozomi made a beeline right for her.
"What do you want brat?" she demanded irate.
"There's a pervert by the fence, roughly around the seventh board next to the tree," she said flatly. "I never caught his name last time, but I do remember that he had long white hair and that all the kunoichi is Suna know him by name enough to give him a spectacular beat down without holding back."
She had her back turned to the hole that was quite likely being hidden by said pervert, so he couldn't read her lips.
Seeing the kunoichi's sudden interest and the violent gleam in her eyes, she asked "Why tell me?"
"Because you remind me of Temari-nee and will quite likely know the best people to alert in order to remind him that it's rude to bother kunoichi who are trying to relax and that he should try harder to hide next time," she replied with a cheerful smile.
The woman stared at her, before laughing.
"I like you girlie. Give me a second, okay?" said the kunoichi with a grin on her face.
Ten minutes later there was a loud squawk from the other side of the fence, followed by the sound of the women all crying "PERVERT!"
The second that word was heard, every woman covered up until the sounds of a particularly enthusiastic ass-kicking was over with, followed by the sound of something heavy being thrown out rather bodily.
The kunoichi patted her on the head.
"Good job, little rabbit. Jiraiya-sama wasn't expecting to be busted so fast. How did you know he was there anyway?"
"I'm a natural sensor, according to Temari-nee. I know she was the one to convince the Suna kunoichi to teach me all the best ways to lay perverts down low with a single well placed kick or some good hits," said Nozomi cheerfully.
The woman grinned at her hearing that.
"What's your name little rabbit?"
"Sawada Nozomi, Nee-san," she chirped.
She blinked a bit at that, before ruffling the girl's hair.
"Mitarashi Anko, Konoha special jounin," she said.
Nozomi suddenly found herself with an armful of happy blond when Naruto saw the outfit she had given him. After a few days in his presence, she had quickly figured out why Naruto wore his rather horrible clothes.
He was like Gaara, except considering his birth day and where he lived he had the Kyuubi, rather than Shukaku.
She would never forget the look on Gaara's face (or Temari and Kankuro for that matter) when the first time Gaara fell asleep outside her presence and went on a rampage, she came face to face with the cranky raccoon and instead of running away in fear struck up a conversation with it.
Though if their faces were hilarious, it was nothing compared to the look on the Kazekage's face when he found out that if they wanted less bloodshed when the one-tail was out, all they had to do was get it very, very drunk. Shukaku loved blood, but it had been sober for well over a century which was part of the reason it was so crabby.
So long as the Suna nin were willing to treat him like a grumpy boss summon and provide proper booze, he was less inclined to turn them all into paste when he was out.
Poor Gaara still suffered a massive hangover, but that was a small price to pay to keep Shukaku happy.
"So...what's the Kyuubi like? Is he a total grump like his brother, or is he actually nice?" asked Nozomi innocently.
Naruto sputtered.
"How do..."
"Anyone with eyes can see you're treated the same way as Gaara-nii while he's in Suna, and your birthday matches up. Besides, you always felt like a cuddly fox to me," she admitted. "So have you met him yet?"
"...You're not afraid of me?" said Naruto.
"I just admitted to meeting Shukaku, the Kyuubi's little brother. Though I highly doubt Kyuubi is his name, since that's more of a description than anything. And no, I'm not afraid. Why would I be?" asked Nozomi.
"It's just...everyone always treats me like I'm the fox or something," said Naruto.
"Naruto is Naruto, and Kyuubi is Kyuubi. It's like treating the sealing scroll as the kunai, instead of just another scroll," said Nozomi sensibly. "Then again, most of humanity is made up of mindless idiotic sheep, so it makes sense they wouldn't know or care about the difference."
Seeing Naruto start to tear up, Nozomi pulled him into a comforting hug, without caring that he latched onto her. Gaara had done the same when he found out she wasn't afraid of him after learning he had Shukaku in him.
Then again, Shukaku had shown a strange preference to her presence. It didn't hurt that Nozomi was sensible enough to treat him like a thinking, rational being who should be as respected as a boss summon of a summon set.
Or, and he would keep this to himself, that she had the comforting aura of home around her that made it very easy to feel safe in her presence. If she accepted him, then it would mean he would always have a place to simply rest and relax.
Naruto was clearly unsure of himself when they went to eat some ramen. After learning of how the people in the village treated him, and how it was rare for anyone to let him in a restaurant or store without either being chased out or charged massive prices, it was understandable why he ate so much of the stuff.
Considering her own reputation, she felt more empathy than most would.
He was practically leaning against her, taking in her comforting presence when a loud, angry cry was heard. It was Sakura-chan!
"Naruto! What are you doing leaning against a foreign diplomat like that?!" shrieked Sakura outraged.
Honestly, it was like he went out of his way to embarrass her!
Before her fist could make contact with his head, a hand stopped her.
It was Nozomi, and she was less than amused.
"Do you know this girl, Naruto-kun?" she asked evenly, unaware her eyes were glowing a vibrant orange that was akin to the setting sun.
"She's my teammate, Sakura," said Naruto.
He felt as though something important was happening, but he had no idea why. Just that it would change a few things.
"Care to explain why you felt it was appropriate to hit him for simply leaning against me?" asked Nozomi. Her voice was calm but it was clear she was pissed.
"He should know better than to lean on foreign diplomats. Its embarrassing and looks bad on the village."
"Foreign diplomat? What on earth gave you that idea?" said Nozomi baffled. "I'm a civilian who's only relation to Gaara and the others is through our mothers. I have no pull whatsoever with the Kazekage through his children and he barely tolerates me."
Which was more or less true. The Kazekage was highly interested in how she was able to tame Shukaku so easily, but it wasn't enough to earn any favor unless she could teach it to others or knew how she did it herself. She also wasn't related to him directly, just through his dead wife.
In short she had next to no influence on the man and was sensible enough to know better than to ask anything of him that was more than Gaara or the others could do.
Nozomi turned that terrifying gaze on Sakura, who felt as though she was being put under an important judgment.
"Furthermore I find it appalling that you seem to think it's perfectly acceptable to treat a minor infraction like being a little too familiar with someone you don't know with physical abuse," she said coldly.
Something seemed to dislodge in Naruto's mind, because he said without realizing it "She does it all the time."
Nozomi's gaze hardened and Sakura felt two feet tall.
"Are you related to him, or his girlfriend?" she asked bluntly.
"Of course not! Who would want to date the deadlast?" she said without realizing it. She meant it though, Nozomi could tell.
"Then what right do you have to hit Naruto for every little thing?" said Nozomi. "And before you say it's because you're teammates, I would like to remind you that you won't always be teammates with him. Chunin join new squads and get reassigned all the time. I am amazed your sensei has allowed this sort of behavior to continue in the first place."
Naruto wasn't the only one staring at her. Now that he thought about it, Sakura used to hit him a lot even though they were classmates. And he simply took it with a smile, even though he was in a lot of pain.
Nozomi gave Sakura a cold hard look.
"Before you decide it's acceptable to dole out abuse for minor infractions, maybe you should take a good long look at the sort of person you'll become later in life," said Nozomi.
Sakura couldn't help but feel as though she was being reprimanded by the Hokage himself and failed an important test at the same time. It was not a good feeling, and she left without a word.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, confused.
"You're my friend and there's no way I'm going to let some brat hit you just because she has an overinflated ego. I have to put up with attitudes like that all the time back home and it sucks," said Nozomi, making sure he saw her hand before gently ruffling his head.
Naruto was quiet, before he said in a much smaller voice... "You think of me as a friend?"
"Aren't we?" asked Nozomi, smiling gently.
Naruto stuck to her side like glue the entire night, though she noticed the approval and sad expressions on Teuchi and Ayame's faces.
Fortunately Gaara had seen the entire thing and could make a guess that she wouldn't be returning to the hotel for the night. Naruto happily cuddled into her side for the rest of the day, just basking in the strange aura Nozomi had.
The next morning, he decided to try and find out the fox's name. Nozomi said he must have one, and considering what she said about the similarity of a boss summon and a bijuu (at least to her) and how the Kyuubi might react better if he treated the fox like he would Gamabunta, he could only hope that he made better progress than he had the first time.
Nozomi POV
Nozomi had a rather strange dream, after telling Naruto she thought of him as her friend and defending him from his teammate.
It was a strange sewer system, one that was rather dreary. Considering the dream she had shortly before the first time she saw Shukaku, she could make a guess what this was about.
Sure enough, she saw a massive cage held back by a single seal...and behind the bars was an enourmous red fox made of bubbling chakra.
She walked up without fear, her gut instinct telling her it was okay. That she would be safe.
"Hello sir. What's your name?"
The fox blinked at her, confused by the lack of fear and the fact she was treating him as a thinking being, rather than a mindless beast.
"Come closer to the cage, little rabbit,"he growled.
Nozomi gave him a flat look.
"I may not think of you as a mindless beast, but I'm not stupid enough to get within range of your claws. If you want me to help discuss terms with Naruto on how to make your confinement a bit less tiresome, then I will have to ask that you at least attempt to be civil," she said bluntly.
"Civil?!" he roared irate."You preach to me about civility when your wretched kind have kept me imprisoned for over eighty years, to be used as a battery for their damnable jutsu?!"
"I said attempt to be civil, as in you don't try to eat, maim or otherwise attack me with anything but words. I said nothing about you having to be happy or accepting of the fact you are currently stuck in a genin," Nozomi shot back. "Personally I think the Elemental Nations would be better off without Jinchuriki or using so many flashy jutsu. However humanity is always trying find new ways to kill each other, and as walking beings of pure chakra it's only natural that you would make attractive targets to act as a nuclear deterrent."
Kyuubi's rant stopped cold at that. Never before had a human been the one to disapprove of the whole practice or state that the world would be better off without making sacrifices to bind them back. Or even admit that all they were was victims of humanity's greed.
Seeing she was being sincere...another rarity...he settled down as best he could and actually looked at her.
"Now that you've at least partially calmed down, is there anything I can do to at least make this cage a little less cramped? I'm sure if you could give me any tips or advice, I could pass them on to Naruto and at least give you some form of comfort to make things less difficult. I'm trying to convince him to give you the same respect as a boss summon, since I highly doubt he would be foolish enough to demand 'rent' from the toad boss the same way he did you."
"What makes you think you would have any effect on how I'm treated? You're not even a shinobi!"countered Kyuubi, though you could tell he was interested now.
"Because I got Suna to get Shukaku drunk every time he's out, rather than try to fight him off. Considering the last time I saw that raccoon he was happily downing several barrels of mid-level sake rather than trying to crush every human in sight and giving the shinobi a break with them being the suppliers, odds are they will at least take it into consideration."
Kyuubi snorted at that...but he also gave Nozomi a list that she could pass on later.
He found himself pleasantly surprised when a few weeks later, there was a noticeable difference in his cage and the atmosphere. For once a human kept her word and now he was quite curious what she could do that the others could not.
