Hey again ! This's the new chapter, hope you'll like it !
He was a child again. A blond, hyperactive, small, skinny child. His blond hair was swirling in the wind as he was running, bangs shining like pure gold covering his sapphire blue eyes that held a sparkle of joy and a light only his eyes could hold. He was laughing hard, enjoying the run. The grass felt soft and chilly beneath his feet and the sunlight warm on his tanned skin.
After a while, he saw a greenish material ahead, seeming to move in fluid motion. As he approached it, he learned it was the forest. His smile grew bigger as fresh shadow casted by the old trees' canopy swallowed him, his hair losing its golden shine.
As he run deeper and deeper into the forest, the trees grew larger and older. His smile faded, being now surrounded by ancient trees, all too big to see their tops. They seemed to suck all the light and happiness from before, leaving a sense of fear and darkness instead. Shadows seemed to hide behind every trunk, behind every root that rose from the ground.
Naruto started to shake, darkness engulfing him and the forest.
Suddenly, a white sparkle emerged out of the darkness, out of nowhere. He stumbled to it, reaching his hand to touch the tiny sparkle, the tiny hope. But as soon as his finger touched it, it started to glow red and the next moment it turned into a tail which wrapped itself around the tiny body, squeezing. Two red eyes and fangs emerged out of the darkness,and a demonic voice roared with mad laughter. The boy struggled, but as he struggled the tail squeezed even harder, pushing the breath out of his lungs, crushing his arms and legs.
Naruto tried to scream, but no sound came out. He struggled but strength had left his body.
The echo of a lost whisper shot through the blackness. Naruto could feel his eyes closing. His heartbeat ceasing.
' Wake up, wake up,...wake- '
" NARUTO !Wake the hell up ! " someone whispered nervously into Naruto's ear, shaking the boy awake.
The blond shot his eyes open. He was breathing fast, very fast and his heart was pounding in his chest and temples. He could feel cold sweat running down his forehead.
' Just a nightmare 'he thought.
As his breathing steadied, he looked up. His sensei was sitting on the corner of his bed, looking worried and a little embarrassed, a slight redness in his cheeks.
" What ? " Naruto asked, trying to dispose of the bitter sensation the dream had left in his mouth.
The white-haired sanin stared suspiciously at his student.
" You were talking in your sleep. " he said, in a very low whisper.
Naruto studied his sensei. From the looks of it he...
Naruto gulped at the thought, than voiced his fears.
" Did I-did I dream about kissing Sakura-chan again ? " he asked.
" Hell no ! " came the louder response. The sanin clasped a hand over his mouth and looked around nervously.
" What's wrong Ero-senin ? " asked Naruto his seemingly insane sensei. If he didn't dream of kissing Sakura-chan again- he shivered at the memory- what could it be that made the sanin look so embarrassed ?
" Don't call me that . " came the harsh reply and then leaned forward and whispered in Naruto's ear :
" There's a ...a girl in your bed. "
Naruto stared at the red face of his sensei and resisted the urge lo laugh.
He than glanced at the said bed, where the girl-where Ai lay sleeping beneath the blankets.
Naruto smiled a little, his mood saddening at the memory of what had happened in the alleyway the night before.
" So what ? " asked him his sensei.
The sanin looked taken aback.
Then understanding dawned upon him.
" You didn't do anything to her, did you, stupid Ero-senin ? " he whispered, mumbling the last part and eying the said sensei suspiciously.
" No, of course not, baka ! " he answered, offended, than punched Naruto slightly on the head, threatening through gritted teeth. " And stop calling me that !"
The girl stirred and both men froze, one of them out fear of awakening her, the other one just frightened to death.
" Did - did you do anything to her ? "Jiraya asked his student, feeling uncomfortable.
" What do you- " Naruto asked, confused, than as he understood the meaning of what his sensei inquired his face turned red.
" Of course not ! What makes you think that, stupid Ero-se-" he yelled, but was cut by the response of his teacher.
" I thought I told you NOT to call me that ! And besides, what do you expect me to think when I come and find a girl- a girl Naruto, in your BED ! "
" Well excuse me, but am I in the same BED as her ? Noooooo ! Nonononono ! ' No Jiraya, he's not in the same bed as her . You're taking this the wrong way ' Didn't that occur to you, Ero-senin ? "
The sanin punched Naruto again, harder this time roaring annoyed :
" DON'T CALL ME THAT ! "
' Brat, you're scaring the shit out of her. She's awake. 'the stiffed with laughter voice of Kyuubi suddenly vibrated through his mind.
Naruto's head jerked in the direction of his bed, where Ai was hidden beneath her blanket whole except for th eyes, with which she stared at them full of pure horror, her knuckles white from clutching the edge of the blanket too hard.
Jiraya followed Naruto's gaze and all color drained from his face when he saw the sparkle of consciousness in the girl's eyes.
Naruto calmed down, getting off the bed-where he, actually both of them, had been standing up on their feet- and approaching her slowly, afraid she might jump or explode if he moved faster or made the wrong move.
He also held his hands in front of him, in a I'm-not-gonna-hurt-you-see-? sort of manner.
" 'morning Ai. It's me, Naruto, do you recognise me ? "he asked softly.
Ai nodded, staring fearfully at the white-haired sanin, who was frozen on his spot on the other bed.
" Ok, that's good. don't worry it's ok. This- " he said, pointing at his teacher."- is my sensei. The one I've mentioned yesterday remember ? "
He awaited her confirmation, which came in a slight nod, before continuing.
" He's harmless, don't worry. Actually, he's probably more scared than you. You see, he's... frozen. " An evil smile crept on his face.
" Anyhow, he was confused as to why you're here. If you could please get off that blanket, so I can introduce you to him ? " he asked, maintaining his soft tone and carefully chosen words- which was not like him at all, but after all- desprate times call for desprate measures !
The girl looked unconvinced, but after a few moments started too move, slowly. Fortunately, Jiraya remained on the spot.
Ai took the blanket off and tried to rise in order to sit straight on the bed. She winced in pain, forgetting her leg was broken. Naruto'd forgotten too. He hurried and helped her. Ai's feet gently touched the cold floor, but she didn't seem to mind. She drew a breath in and took a quick glance at Jiraya, who started to move once he saw the poor condition the girl was in and understood something else must've happened that brought the girl there. He was a sanin, for Kami's sake ! He couldn't be scared by a girl, could he ?
Ai quickly lowered her gaze to the floor when Jiraya's eyes met hers. Naruto put a hand on her shoulder.
" Hey, look at me. Look at me "
She obeyed.
" 's gonna be ok ! Trust me " he said, giving her one of his famous fox-like grins.
She must've been mad, but she trusted him. After all, he was like her, wasn't he ?
Naruto got up, standing like a loop-sided kinda bridge between Ai and the sanin, who managed to get there and look more like the ninja he was than a frightened psycho.
" Ai, this is my sensei, the one I was talking about. " he started, pointing with his hand at the sanin, who managed a weak grin .
" Ero-senin-"
" Stop calling me that " mumbled the sanin, but Naruto just ignored him.
" -this is Ai."
Both said people were now looking at each other, unsure of what they should say next.
" Um... I'm Jiraya, this bloke's sensei. Nice too meet you " said Jiraya, stretching a hand out and grinning.
" See ? " Naruto encouraged the girl. " He's harmle-WAIT A MINUTE ! WHADDAYA MEAN BY BLOKE, HUH ? "
Ai flinched, not used to the full-powered yell of Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto ralised the mistake and grinned sheepishly.
" 'rry. " he apologized.
An awkward silence filled the next minutes.
" Um...we should eat, ne ? And maybe afterwards we could get Ero-senin to check your seal, he knows these stuff better." Naruto broke the silence.
At the word seal Ai paled, whilst Jiraya raised an eyebrow.
" Oh, yeah. No worries here Ai ! " he laughed." Jiraya knows I'm a jinchuuriki. He's used to that kinda stuff."
Said sanin's eyebrow looked like it could take off now, and the other one soon followed. Naruto was the number one hyperactive unpredictable ninja, loud and sometimes denser than cement, but Jiraya knew he wasn't one to speak easily of his ..."problem ", or for that, complain or whine about it. Actually, he didn't -now that he thought of it- once hear him even mention it, not even in front of his friends-his family-the persons he trusted most. Even with him, Jiraya, he was reluctant and spoke of it only if necessary .
" She's a jinchuuriki too. " Naruto said, rather too happily.
Ai paled-if that was possible- even more. She could now be mistaken for a marble statue.
Jiraya felt like face-slamming his forehead. Was that kid dumb ? You didn't just go and tell in front of our people stuff like that ! It wasn't ...you just didn't do that ! Plus, a single look at the girl and any normal person would've seen that was a subject to be talked round and get to it after a lot of gaining-trust kinda talk. Apparently not Naruto.
' This is my friend, she's smart, a little too shy, her favorite color is blue, she likes sushi and oh, did I mention she's the container of a demon ? ' taunted Kyuubi, voicing Jiraya's thoughts in Naruto's head.
' Damn ! Nobody appreciates me ! I'm not dumb-'
' 'course not '
' -it just needed to be done ! Now shut up and get back to whatever you were doing, stupid you...you...you fur ball ! '
' Damn, now that hurt ! Imagine being called a fur ball ! Tsk kiddo remember I can hear your thoughts and this fur ball's become subject of nightmares. Beat that little human ! '
' I'm a shinobi ! Besides, it was just a stupid dream ! '
' Whatever, brat.'
' Anyway, how come you talk to me ? '
' I was bored. Fine I'll go if you want. Stupid mortal. You should be more respectful. Not many can talk to me like that and walk out in one piece, never mind...' Kyuubi continued talking to himself, his voice slowly fading from Naruto's mind.
' This is odd . ' thought Naruto. He wasn't used to talking like that to Kyuubi, but it felt...nice.
The blond turned his attention back to the real world, where Jiraya was eying curiously Ai and said girl was still frozen. Naruto sighed. He had to do all the talk by himself. Why did he always got stuck with stoic, boring and useless at conversation people ?
" Ai, he's used to this. He may even be able to help you, or at least tell what demon you host and what kinda powers it has and that stuff. I know Ero-senin is a weirdo, but he's fine. "
" Hey " cried Jiraya.
Both ignored him.
" Now lets get some ramen, I'm starving ! " Naruto said, helping Ai calm down and replacing her bandages, while Jiraya was just thinking.
Thanks for reading ! I've always liked the idea of a friendly Kyuubi and a friendship between the two of them ( meaning Naruto and the fox, of course ).
I intended to make the chapter longer, but than I figured I might as well add a new chapter with what I was gonna say. Don't wanna make the chapters too loooong, it'll be boring. Hope they're not too short, though.
I'd like to thak Xamd for being the first one to review one of my stories ( my first story ) ever ! You really made my day !
* HUGS *
Review !
