I don't own Naruto. But if I did, Tenten, Shizune, and Jiraiya would have last names.
Chapter 4: Checking Out The Fox For Clothes And Problems
"So what would be a good place to go, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked. He and Hinata were walking down the streets into the market district after separating from Kiba and Shino. He was holding onto Akane's hand to make sure she didn't go wandering off if something caught her eye or nose.
"W-well, I... I think the first she needs i-is a bath." Hinata stuttered, still not completely over the habit when out with Naruto even after about a year of dating. She was doing much better than when she started, but occasionally her stutter would resurface. "Not that she stinks or anything. It's... just better she be clean before trying on clothes."
"Alright. Let's take her back to my place and give her a bath." Naruto said. Akane, who had henged herself to look like a normal red-haired child, grinned at being able to go to his house so soon. Actually it was more of an actual transformation then a henge, since she was a fox demon.
As the three walked towards Naruto's apartment, they drew quite a lot of attention. After all, with a child on one side and the Hyuuga heiress on the other, it looks a lot like the most famous orphan of Konoha now had a family of his own. Akane's demonic hearing let her catch bits and pieces of the villager's gossip.
"Am I seeing things right?"
"Is that the Uzumaki boy with a girl and a kid?"
"Did he get her knocked up?"
"That girl's even dressed like him. Bad taste must be genetic."
Akane tugged Naruto's hand to get his attention. "Otou-san, people are talking about us."
"They're not saying anything bad, are they?" He asked.
"Some. But most are just surprised to see us together. Why?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Just don't worry about it for now. People like to talk and soon they'll find something else to gossip about."
Akane nodded. Hinata and Naruto kept their eyes open to see if anybody looked really upset at the sight they were presenting. Or worse, if anyone was going to do something about it. Sure, the town had dropped their prejudices against Naruto some time ago, but they were probably still a few who would go out of their way to make him miserable. And right now they really didn't need to deal with that.
Before the two got to any clothing stores, they ran across Ino and Sakura, who were window-shopping at the moment. Sakura noticed the pair first. "Hi, Naruto and Hinata. Hey, who's this with you?"
Akane looked at the pink-haired kunoichi and suddenly panicked. She went right behind Naruto and quivered. It was like when Hinata was close to Naruto years ago, but Akane was acting more frightened than nervous. "What's wrong, Akane-chan?" Hinata asked, placing her hand on the demon girl's shoulder.
"I... I don't know. But when I see... that woman, all I can think about is being hit." Akane replied, making everyone widen their eyes.
"You think I'm just going to go and hit you?" Sakura asked, a little mortified and maybe even a little offended. She tried to get closer to prove the girl wrong, but Akane tried to back away some more.
"Sakura-chan, maybe you should back off a bit. I don't think she's in the mood now." Naruto told his team mate.
"I'm just trying to show her I'm harmless." Sakura defended herself.
'Harmless? Yeah, and Shikamaru's a workaholic.' Ino, Hinata, and Naruto sarcastically thought. While they had no reason to think Sakura would actually attack the young girl, 'harmless' just wasn't how one could describe Tsunade's second apprentice.
Akane looked at Ino from behind Hinata, and her instincts told her this girl wasn't a threat. Maybe even sometimes helpful. Nowhere near as good as the pale-eyed girl she was currently close to, but still safer than the one with bubblegum hair.
Ino took a good look at the red-haired girl and instantly thought 'You gotta be kidding me. She's wearing that?' Then she looked at Naruto. "Naruto, you don't have the slightest concept of fashion sense, do you?"
"We're going to get her clothes right after a bath Ino. And I've already been told 'no orange'. What's everybody got against orange?"
"In moderation and coordination it's okay, which you don't do." Ino told him. "I better help you. You need a woman's touch for this." Shopping was one of Ino's favorite things to do in her time off, so she figured it was okay to invite herself along.
"So Hinata-chan's not good enough?" Naruto asked, wondering if he should be offended for her.
"What? No, that's not it. Just thinking a second opinion might be good is all."
"Might as well, Naruto-kun. She is better at this sort of thing than me." Hinata told her boyfriend.
"Fine. But no treating her like a doll." Naruto insisted.
"Okay then, I think I know where we should start." Ino told them as she led them to one of the civilian clothing stores she would go to all the time before she made ninja. They went inside and Ino led them to the part of the store she remembered best. "How about this one?"
"You've gotta be kidding." Naruto and Sakura said in unison. The outfit Ino held was basically a smaller version of Ino's common genin ensemble.
Ino chuckled. "Actually, yeah, I am. But it's still a good idea if you ask me."
Naruto suddenly pictured Akane dressed like Ino and even wearing her hair like Ino used to. Then she pictured her reading fashion magazines and fawning over Sasuke Uchiha and it made his blood run cold. 'Kami-sama, if you care about me at all, you will not have the Kyuubi be a mini-Ino.' Then he pictured Akane acting more like Sakura back in the academy and genin days. 'Scratch that. Mini-Ino would be the lesser of two evils.'
Ino and Sakura starting looking thru the racks trying to find anything that caught their attention. Naruto was therefore allowed to keep working on his train of thought. 'Now that I think about it, Akane-chan could definitely use a good female role model. If she's going to stay, then I don't want to see her grow up demonic. I never thought I'd be a parent so soon, so I'm going to need some help. But from who?' He looked and saw Hinata showing Akane some sundresses and shoes. Naruto tried imagining Akane acting more like Hinata used too. 'Now that one doesn't sound so bad. A timid demon is less likely to go on a rampage than a fangirl one.'
Using the money Tsunade gave them, Naruto was able to afford three different outfits for Akane and two different sets of pajamas, along with shoes, socks, and underwear with some cheap accessories for flair. Ino and Sakura offered to see if they still had any of their old clothes stored away they could give. Hinata couldn't since the Hyuugas weren't much for hand-me-downs. Akane was allowed to put on one of the outfits in the store dressing rooms before leaving. She chose a red t-shirt with a blue skirt and grey sandals. All three girls and even the cashier called her cute when she came out wearing it, making her blush.
8:00 came and Naruto and Hinata brought Akane to the hokage tower after dinner at Ichiraku's and a delayed bath at Naruto's apartment. Teuchi and Ayame were shocked beyond belief to see someone keep pace with Naruto when eating. They saw a lot of profit being made for them later on. Naruto and Hinata met up with Shizune in the main room of the first floor. "We're holding the meeting in Interrogation Room A." She told them, then led them to the basement and the designated room.
Inside the room was Tsunade, Inoichi, Yamato, Ibiki, Anko, Kiba, Shino, and Tsume. Ibiki and Anko were let in on the meeting since they would be able to keep tabs on the girl if anything went wrong. "Hello there Akane. Now that looks much nicer on you than orange, doesn't it?" Tsunade greeted with a smile.
"If you say so, Baa-chan." Akane replied.
Tsunade's eyebrows ticked, then she looked at Naruto angrily. "I didn't tell her to say that. I swear." Naruto defended himself.
Tsunade giggled at him. "I'll let it pass. Sounds cute when she says it." She said as she led Akane to the examination table. 'Looks like he's already rubbing off on her. I really hope Shizune won't say 'I told you so' later.'
Tsunade picked up Akane and placed her on the table. Inoichi and Yamato got in front of her. 'So this is the much-feared Kyuubi, now going by the name Akane?' Inoichi thought. 'Let's start out simple.' "What is your name, little girl?"
Akane tried to act brave. The blonde man she sensed no familiarity with, but the other man she did and it was a comfortable type of familiarity. "I'm Akane. Akane Uzumaki."
"And where do you come from? Where were you born?" Inoichi asked.
"I..." Akane paused for a moment. "I don't remember. I think it was some place with lots of trees and grass. Kinda like here."
"What's the earliest thing you can remember?" Ibiki asked.
Akane closed her eyes to think about it. "Red eyes with black things in them that spun around. They belonged to some old guy in a black cape."
One thought went thru everyone's minds. 'Sharingan.' "What can you remember after that?" Yamato asked.
"Mostly being trapped in darkness, and being hurt over and over. For reasons no one would ever tell me. And feeling lonely." Akane answered, one small tear beginning to pool in her left eye.
Inoichi 'hmmed' and put his hand on his chin. "Tsunade-sama, I think I should check her memories directly, if you'll let me."
"Sure. Yamato, Anko, Ibiki, Tsume, be ready if anything happens." Tsunade ordered. They all nodded.
"Otou-san..." Akane turned to Naruto nervously but stayed on the table.
"It'll be okay Akane-chan. He won't hurt you." He told her. She then slowly turned back to the older blonde man to await whatever he was going to do.
Inoichi made several hand signs then said "Memory Scan Jutsu," and placed his right hand on her forehead. His eye glowed then both of their eyes turned white as the jutsu began working. He found fragmented memories, the first being someone with a sharingan looking right at him since he was viewing them from the Kyuubi's perspective. Then he saw the shinigami and iron bars, then the next memories made no sense to him. He saw the girl running down the streets as people threw garbage at her and shouted nasty things, still watching it from her eyes. He saw her looking at frogs in a pond then someone sneak up from behind and try to drown her until an Anbu saved her. He saw her painting buildings and the hokage monument, sitting in a classroom, and looking out the window of a rundown apartment looking at happy families walk by and sighing.
Then Inoichi saw images of certain people. He saw Iruka Umino trying to save her life from a large shuriken. He saw Kakashi Hatake standing around reading his favorite book. He saw Sasuke sneer and ignore her and Sakura get mad and wail on her. He saw her argue with Jiraiya about peeping then training in several jutsus and fighting styles. He saw her interact with several of the Rookie 12 and several adults, and get along for the most part on occasion with some otherwise instances. And he even saw her fighting several people he didn't recognize, but some of them were Itachi Uchiha and Pain. And then he saw her look at Naruto thru iron bars a few times. The first time it looked like Naruto was angry, then later it was more like they were trying to reach a sort of understanding.
Inoichi then left the girl's mind. Nobody had moved so nothing must have happened. "So, what'd ya see?" Tsume asked.
"Umm... I think that Naruto and his friends should go outside for this. I'll tell you guys soon, but... there's something I need to tell the others first. And take Akane with you, for the same reasons I just gave." Inoichi requested. After the four younger shinobi left the room with Akane, he addressed the remaining jounins and sannin. "I think that when the seal lost power, it had to have affected the Kyuubi's mind. Her body, no promises, but definitely her mind."
"How was it affected?" Shizune asked.
"Well, I saw nothing of the Kyuubi's life before it... sorry, she was sealed into Naruto. Just the sharingan wielder, then nothing else. It's like she's mentally started her life over again. Maybe that's why she looks like a child, because mentally she is one now. But that's not the weirdest thing."
"What is, then?" Anko asked.
"There were no memories before being sealed, however, the Kyuubi had many after being sealed. And if I had to guess, they were actually fragments of Naruto's memories, but she was remembering them as if they happened to her instead." Inoichi explained.
"Why would that happen?" Ibiki asked.
"Maybe it has something to do with the connection between them." Yamato offered. "Or maybe the fox has been watching everything in Naruto's life all along. I don't know, but whatever the cause, how bad's the damage Inoichi-san?"
"Somewhat bad. She remembers several bad times, maybe a few good times, but it's mostly like she has amnesia. The best memories are mostly impressions she's got on people Naruto has met before, and even then she doesn't actually know or remember them, just has a feeling about them based on what Naruto best pictures about them." Inoichi explained as best he could figure it.
Tsunade didn't like the sound of this. The Kyuubi was basically a blank slate now from the sound of things and she would go by Naruto's judgment on most people she met and most situations she got into. Tsunade had to make sure Naruto wouldn't mess this up. "We should keep her here overnight for some more examinations, just to confirm your theory Inoichi. I'll go get her and tell the others they can go home if they want." Tsunade left the room and did just that. She was actually expected a bit of a fuss on this, but the four let her do what needed to be done and wanted to be told the results tomorrow morning. With that done, Tsunade went back into the room where they were getting ready to give Akane a physical. And she was fighting back like an animal when they tried to pin her down.
'This is going to be a long night.'