It bothers me that I suddenly cease to post when I don't have inspiration for any of my stories, even if I've written quite a ways ahead... Oh well. This update brought to you by a bored me reading my stories and realizing that it had been so long since I read over this one that I wanted to read further than chapter five.
That having been said... I've graduated from high school! If I had a little more energy, I'd find Guy and Lee to celebrate... but I'd rather not deal with their brand of insanity at five in the morning. :D
I own only my OCs. Enjoy!
Chapter 6
Kurama and School
"Ready?" Naruto asked. The two five-year-olds were standing in the White Hollow, the day before school was supposed to start, a little over a week after Shino had been introduced to the rest of the gang. It was smaller than the Red Hollow, but it was still rather spacious, and more comfortable, really. Piles of seemingly-natural brush made it difficult to get in, if you didn't want to partially climb a tree.
Riil nodded, and Naruto closed his eyes, holding his hand out like he was touching a wall. The red-orange chakra Riil was starting to associate with the Nine-Tailed Fox swirled around his arm, forming first into a large, loose sphere that then collapsed inward on itself to form a fox almost twice the five-year-olds' height. One very large tail split into nine, and eyes snapped open.
Naruto lowered his arm and the fox shook its head before stretching. "Ah, that's better, kit," it said. Again, Riil was given the impression that the 'demon' was male.
She stepped over next to Naruto, and the fox looked at her. "Hello!" Riil said cheerfully. The fox seemed to smirk, and it turned to Naruto.
"You said your cousin suggested this to you? I take it she's the cousin?" it asked. Naruto nodded.
"Yup! Kurama, meet Riil! Riil, this is Kurama," he said. Kurama chuckled at the blonde's enthusiasm. "I told him you'd met one of his siblings already," Naruto added. Riil smiled, and Kurama stepped toward her for a moment, sniffing around her. Riil watched, then tentatively reached out a hand.
The fox snapped at her before jumping away, though once it was a distance away again, it looked back at her guiltily. "Sorry... I don't like people touching me unless I've given them express permission to do so," he said. Riil blinked a couple of times before smiling.
"It's okay. I was just being curious," she said, just as cheerfully as before. Kurama sat on his haunches and tilted his head to the side.
"You're a strange one... You don't smell like a normal human, but you don't carry one of my siblings within you," he told her. "You smell like... Hmm... You smell like Shukaku's home."
Riil giggled. "Fitting, given that Shukaku is the other one of you I've met," she said. Kurama's eyes widened.
"You survived the encounter?!"
Riil shrugged. "He's very nice, when his lack of chakra control isn't driving him to insanity."
Kurama tilted his head to the side. "Lack of chakra control? How is that supposed to work?"
"Huh?" Naruto piped up, looking at Kurama confusedly. "You don't know?" Riil sighed.
"Yeah, Shukaku said he'd be the one of the ones with no idea what I'm talking about," she said. Then she turned to Kurama again. "He also said you believe that more tails equals more chakra and power, but that's not completely true. More tails means more control. He found that out somewhere between the last time he saw you and when Gaara became his... uh... that long word I can't say."
"Jinchuuriki?" Kurama guessed. Riil nodded.
"Yep! And Daddy says that the more control you have over your chakra, the more of it you can use, which is typically translated into more power. So yeah, you're kinda right, but not for the reasons you thought," she said. Kurama tilted his head to the side, as if considering it.
"Hmm... I'd never thought about that. Interesting," he said after a few minutes. "But even if you've met Shukaku, you wouldn't smell like his home. The desert wind... It clings to you more than you know. I just can't seem to figure out why..."
Riil's eyes widened at the word 'wind,' and she glanced at Naruto, who obligingly stepped away. Then she closed her eyes and started twirling, whipping up a whirlwind around herself for the first time in almost a month. When she stopped, Kurama's eyes were even wider than Shukaku's had been, and Riil tucked her hands behind her back.
The two had a small staring contest for a while before Kurama stood and walked over to her. Riil, cautious but curious, lifted her right hand and again reached out for the fox.
This time, rather than snapping at her in warning and jumping away, Kurama extended his head and snatched up her hand in his mouth, causing Riil to yelp in shock while Naruto cried out in worry, because the blonde was the first one to spot the blood dripping out of Riil's hand.
The girl just stared at the teeth dug into her hand for the minute or so that Kurama held it in his jaws. Then he let go.
Rather than even more blood gushing out, the flow started to stop, and Riil gasped, feeling the subtle increase in her chakra as well as the rapidly-healing bite mark on her hand.
"I'm sorry. That's the easiest way to do it..." Kurama said. "It will scar, unfortunately..."
Riil looked up at him and smiled, reaching up with her left hand to scratch him behind the ears. "It's okay. I'll just have to wash the blood off before the other kids see it. Or worse, Iruka," she said, giving Naruto a look. The blonde flinched. He didn't like seeing Iruka upset either. Riil hummed something quietly for a moment before crossing her arms and looking at Naruto. "Now what?"
Naruto looked thoughtful. "Well... We still need to figure out what we're going to do with this place," he said. "After all, Ino's already planted a bunch of flowers around the Red Hollow, and Shino and Shikamaru said that their dads were gonna help us make a ladder and a platform, so we'll have a little sorta-tree house there..."
Riil shook her head. "We can't do that without finding a way to block this place off, like we did with the vines. And we had Ino's dad's help for half of that, and Itachi's help for the other half," she argued. Kurama tilted his head to the side.
"What about digging this hollow out a little more? The roots of the trees can be shifted if done right, and at this time of year, grass grows quickly. If we work a little bit at a time, no one will notice the bare parts of the ground," he suggested. Riil stopped, thinking that over carefully.
"Well, it's just the three of us, but the others know we've got our own little spot, so I guess if we ask for stuff, they won't question us too much," she said. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, sounds good to me!" he agreed. Kurama chuckled at the blonde's enthusiasm.
"Very well. But why don't you two kits go home for the night? I'll get started on it tonight, but you should get yourself cleaned up," he said, gently nudging Riil's hand. The black-haired girl nodded.
"Thanks, Kurama! Come on, Naruto!" she said, already scrambling up and out of the hollow. Kurama watched them go, then leapt over the brush himself and examined the trees around the edges of their play area before choosing one and steadying himself to start digging.
The next morning, Riil was woken rather rudely by Naruto.
"Come on, come on, it's time for school, it's time for school!" the hyperactive blonde boy yelled, jumping up and down on his cousin's bed. Riil rolled out of the bed with a groan.
"Naruto... Get out of my room," she grumbled. Naruto grinned, running out for what Riil knew would only be a couple of minutes if she didn't hurry and get dressed.
"Naruto, Riil!? You two up yet?"
Riil yawned. "Gimme a minute! I gotta pee!" she complained. First Naruto, now Iruka.
Riil finally walked into the kitchenette in a blood-red top and jean capris. She was carrying something purple and yellow in her left hand while running her right hand through wild hair.
"Good morning, Riil-chan!" Naruto said happily. Iruka chuckled.
"Are you purposely trying to not match with the red, purple, and yellow?" he asked. Riil yawned, but sat down at the table.
"It matches fine," she grumbled, not even really bothering with her hair. It trailed down to the middle of her back, but it really needed a brush, and Iruka sighed after putting pancakes in front of both five-year-olds.
"Do you want me to get your brush?" he asked. Riil stuck her tongue out.
"Only if you want to brush it," she shot back. Iruka chuckled, walking off down to her room. He didn't really want to have to listen to Riil complaining about it once she was awake. Which she would, he knew. He'd been living next to her for two and half months, almost, and had had to cook at least three meals a week for the duo of five-year-olds.
Riil could cook, yes, but her menu was limited to pasta (though Iruka had to admit she could cook many different kinds) and hamburgers. Hence, the seventeen-year-old cooking for them regularly.
Naruto's orphan stipend was carefully guarded by Riil, after she arrived, and was no longer spent on ramen every single day, twice (or more) a day. Also carefully stashed away was the money she was receiving from her father monthly. Ramen was now a lunch-only meal (much to Naruto's annoyance) and extra money was either spent on food that Riil and Iruka would cook or was saved for their once-a-week restaurant trips.
Iruka returned to the kitchenette to find Riil handing over one of her three pancakes to Naruto before putting her plate in the sink and turning on the water. Iruka smiled slightly and walked over to her, managing to catch some of her matted hair in the brush and start untangling it.
By the time he was done with Riil's hair, Naruto was done with his breakfast. "Well, is everyone ready to head out?" Iruka asked. Riil grabbed the yellow-striped purple sash she'd carried in and tied it around her waist before grabbing her bag (also purple and yellow, courtesy of her father) and standing at the door. Naruto grabbed the goggles that had been sitting on the table and put them on like a headband, grabbing his own orange bag and running over to join her.
"Iruka, you start teaching today, right?" Riil asked. Iruka nodded, and the girl smiled. "I hope I'm in your class."
"Yeah, me too!" Naruto cheered. Iruka chuckled.
"We'll see. Come on, we don't want to be late," he reminded them. Riil grinned and ran on ahead, Naruto chasing after her. Once they reached the school, it turned into impatient waiting for Iruka, who had fallen behind.
As it turned out, Iruka was going to be teaching them, and once all thirty or so students in their class had settled down into one very large group and four or five smaller ones, Iruka smiled at them. "Alright, everyone, settle down, I know you're all excited. I'd like to start today easy... I'm going to have you all stand up one by one and tell us a few things about yourself, nothing you don't want to say, of course," he said. "Any volunteers to go first?"
Naruto's hand shot into the air from one side of the large group, and Riil giggled, while Iruka just smiled and nodded at him.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and I'm gonna be a Hokage someday! Believe it!" the energetic blonde announced. Riil giggled again, and one of the kids in one of the smaller groups frowned.
"Think it's funny? Why don't you go next?!" he said. Riil shrugged and stood up as Naruto sat down.
"I'm Namikaze Riil of the Idomura, Naruto's my cousin, and my best friend lives in Sunagakure," she stated. "And I'm very opinionated. There are plenty of people in this room who will confirm that."
The entire group around her and Naruto broke out into laughter.
P.S.- The outfit Riil's wearing in the cover? That's what she wore to school, and it's what she'll be wearing up until age ten. (She's supposed to be about eight in that picture.)