A/N: what's up people? This is the next chapter of tsukimono-suji. I'm so excited. This has to be my favorite story to write so far. I love it!!!! Warnings: are in the prologue. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I did because then I could manipulate the characters in ways I love. That's why fanfiction rocks!!!!

Read and Enjoy!!!!

XOXO

Chapter Three

Naruto exited the bathroom in a billow of steam. A towel was wrapped low around his narrow hips. Water drops dripped down his slightly defined chest. Naruto sighed graciously and slumped onto his bed. He grabbed his black t-shirt and shrugged it on. Then he put on his orange and red boxers, and walked out into the kitchen to have another cup of tea.

Naruto was about to reenter his room to completely dress when he noticed something white and fluffy sticking out from underneath his bed. He walked to his bed and bent over to discover what the mysterious object was.

What he saw made him gasp in shock. The same white fox that had been watching him in the forest was curled up asleep under his bed. The furry head looked up when the creature heard the gasp from the boy it was here to watch over. The fox crawled out from underneath the bed and sat down, staring at the blonde human in front of him.

"How did you get in here?" Naruto felt a little stupid talking to a fox, but when he saw the creature turn its head towards the window, he was more than a little surprised to see it open. Naruto just stared at the fox as if he was crazy and the fox was just part of his hallucinations. He decided to pay the animal no mind and went about the rest of his day. The thing never let him out of its sight.

XOXO

Naruto got to the bridge where his team usually met up and was surprised to only see Sasuke there. "Hey teme, where're Sakura and Kakashi-sensei?" the blonde asked his raven-haired teammate.

"Hn, Kakashi-sensei told me to wait here to let you know that we have today and tomorrow free," Sasuke said before leaving his obnoxious teammate to his own thoughts. Naruto couldn't help but feel that fate was against him because now he had nothing to do for two days in a row.

"Might as well go get some ramen," he said to himself as he headed towards his favorite ramen shop. On the way he took no notice of the small white fox that still followed him, but seemed to watch his raven-haired teammate with a wary air.

XOXO

"What's up brat?" Jiraiya said as he sat down on the stool next to his student at the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

"Nothing," Naruto replied absentmindedly. Jiraiya stared at his usually peppy student and wondered what was wrong. On any other day he would have been called pervy sage by now.

"What's on your mind Naruto?" the old sannin asked his student.

"I'm being stalked by a fox," the blonde said quietly (thank you to Gone and forgotten for saying this in a review).

"What are you talking about kid?" Jiraiya stared at his blonde student like he had three heads. What was the kid talking about, had he finally gone crazy? Were the thoughts that ran through the sannin's head.

"This white fox keeps following me around everywhere I go, and I can't figure out why," Naruto mumbled.

"You know Naruto; they say that white foxes are the messengers of the goddess Inari. Maybe you should try to figure this out. You've got nothing to do for two days. Why don't you do some research?" Jiraiya suggested.

"Maybe I will," Naruto shouted with glee as he jumped up from his stool and paid for his meal. "Thanks a lot pervy sage," he said before running off to do exactly as his sensei had said.

XOXO

A/N: so thats it for now. I think i'm going to end the poll for the pairing for this story soon. In the lead right now is Jiraiya. That makes me happy because i love the old pervert. Anyway, please tell me how you like this story, and any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Loves ya!!!!