LAST TIME

She swung the door wide open, spilling harsh, bright light into the darkened room. "Welcome to the Demon Realms."

The Hokage squinted out the door looking shocked and amazed at what he was seeing. "It's…"

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"…perfect." The Hokage finished, staring around with wide eyes. And it was. The sun shone down brightly from a clear, almost cloudless blue sky to reveal endless, rolling green hills, with a huge forest off in the distance. Mountains towered to their right, shimmering waterfalls visible even from where they were standing. A soft, gentle breeze blew, rustling the rich green grass, bringing the air down to the perfect temperature.

But that wasn't why it seemed so incredibly perfect. No, it was the aura of absolute peace and happiness that seemed to hang on the air like a comforting blanket that made the place like it was. The picture was completed by the demons walking calmly around at random intervals. A group of young wolves, bigger than houses, scampered around at a distance cheerfully, tails wagging, while their pack watched over them with warm, gentle eyes. A cat demon and a badger demon sat a few hundred yards away from where Naruto and the Hokage were, grooming each other's fur and talking in a completely friendly manner.

Arisu turned to look at Naruto and the Hokage in amusement. "Well what did you expect? Complete chaos?" she asked, eyes dancing in amusement. "We've lived in peace for quite a while now."

Her hand flicked out as something came sailing through the door, catching it. She held up a small backpack. "Clothes for him." She explained, motioning towards Naruto. "He'll need new clothes. There's no hope for saving the ones that he's wearing."

Her ears suddenly twitched. "The head fox wants to talk to you about our arrangements for staying at your village." She murmured to the Hokage, motioning towards the door. "I'll go and get the kit some food and a bath."

The Hokage gave the land one last look before turning around and walking into the room again. As soon as he entered the door closed again, completely sealing off all sounds from the outside.

"Open the vent next to the door." The fox rumbled, motioning with his tail towards the door. Feeling confused, the Hokage obeyed and slid the vent open.

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Arisu watched the Hokage walk in the door before turning to look at Naruto. He looked back up at her cautiously. Suddenly a huge grin appeared on her face and she swept Naruto up in a tight hug.

"YOU ARE SO CUTE!!!!!" she yelled, hugging him tightly while jumping up and down. "cute, cute, CUTE!!!!!!!!!

Naruto gaped up at her, eyes wide. "Wha?"

Arisu set him down and gave him a completely friendly smile. "I'm sorry that I had to act like I didn't care that much before, but I can't let the old fox think that I'm going soft or anything. I was wondering if I could get anything more out of it, like a better home for us to live in, if I pouted a bit."

Naruto looked up at her curiously. "So you don't hate me?"

A shocked look appeared on Arisu's face. "No, of course I don't hate you!" she rushed to assure him. Her tails waved behind her to emphasize her words.

"What's your name anyway?" she asked.

"Naruto." He replied shyly, not looking her in the eye.

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A huge grin slid over the fox's face as Arisu's yells of 'cute' echoed around the room through the vent. "Knew it." He chuckled, swinging one of his tails over to slide the vent shut, cutting off the sound from the outside.

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Arisu looked over her new charge critically. "Hmm…" she murmured, glancing him over. "You don't mind if you get a bath before you eat, do you? The scent of blood might attract some of the other demons…"

Naruto squeaked in fear and glanced around nervously, half expecting a demon to come out and eat him on the spot.

Arisu noticed his panicked expression. "Oh no, they wouldn't want to hurt you! They would just want to see where the blood was coming from. You know, in case someone was hurt and needed help."

Calming down slightly, Naruto nodded, pretending to understand. He just couldn't get the image of blood thirsty demons out of his head. "Ok." He said, craning his head back to try and see her face.

"Ok then. We'll just…" her voice trailed off at the end and she looked at him doubtfully. "Um, do you mind riding on my back? It will take too long to get to the hot-springs walking."

Naruto trotted over to her and scrambled onto her back in reply, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck.

Arisu gave a slight choking sound at the sudden pressure on her neck and reached back, gently loosening his hands. "Ready?" she called back while Naruto buried his face into the crook of her neck, hiding his eyes.

He nodded against her shoulder, clinging tightly. Arisu started out at an easy lope, gradually increasing her pace into a full out sprint, heading towards the mountains. Naruto just buried his head closer as the wind slapped against them viciously like a raging storm.

A few minutes passed like this before he was aware that the wind was softening and it felt like they were moving slower before stopping completely. Lifting his head, he saw that they were at the foot of the mountains. A thick, hot fog hung over the area. Arisu set him down gently, scanning the area intently. He could see the shimmer of a hot spring just beyond some rocks ahead.

"Ok," she said, grabbing the pack off of her back. "I'll just give you the new clothes and then after you take you bath you can put…them…..on." Her voice faltered at the end as she drew a familiar orange jumpsuit out of the pack. Her eye twitched. 'OH. MY….' Her thoughts scrabbled desperately to block out the image before her. She wanted to curl up into a ball, wrap her tails firmly around her, and start wailing like a kit.

Just barely managing not to, she handed the suit to the kit with a grimace. "I am so sorry about that…" she muttered, eying the suit in fear.

"I like it!" Naruto chirped happily, and Arisu gave him a horrified look, wondering what exactly was going through his mind.

Before she could ask, he grabbed the suit and pelted off towards the hot spring. A loud splash echoed through the area. Sighing, Arisu sank down to rest against a nearby tree, closing her eyes to block out the last of the sight. Her ears twitched as she heard the yelps and squeals from the hot springs.

About ten minutes later she realized that the sounds had stopped. She opened her eyes cautiously to see the kit standing in front of her, orange suit blaring.

Just managing not to grimace, she stood up stiffly, shaking some leaves from the tips of her tails. "Right, now let's go and get you some-" THUMP.

Arisu leapt into the air, fur on her tails bristling and fluffing out. Naruto yelped a fell back on his butt as a dead deer landed in front of them, its legs splayed. His eyes went wide with horror, tearing up.

A dark shape landed silently beside the deer. Arisu instantly calmed down, her tails smoothing out, before getting an angry look on her face. "Where were you?!" she snapped at the shape. The shape, Hiro, bristled.

Hiro glared at her. "I was getting food for the kit, DUH!" he snarled at her.

Arisu snapped up straight at this. She gave him a weird look. "Why?"

"Because the brat was hungry of course." He snapped, ears twitching.

A smile appeared on her face. "I thought that you didn't care about him." She teased, eyes sparkling with laughter.

"I don't!" Hiro snapped back, a slightly desperate not entering his voice. "I just wasn't going to put up with that brats stomach growling like that all day."

Arisu just grinned even wider. "Sssuuurrreeee." She said, trying not to laugh. "Well, that saves me the trouble of hunting I guess…"

Hiro glanced over towards Naruto, then froze, a look of panic appearing on his face. "Um, Arisu?"

She turned around swiftly to see what he was looking at, then froze too.

Naruto was still sitting on the ground where he had fallen, tears pouring from his eyes as he gazed at the dead deer. Silent sobs shook his small body.

"Why is he crying?!" Hiro asked in a completely panicked voice.

"I think… I think that he's sad about the deer…" Arisu murmured, keeping her eyes pinned on Naruto. One of her tails flicked out and wrapped around him, scooping up the little boy and setting him down softly beside her. Instantly she picked him up and cradled him close. Hiro just sat there, frozen with panic.

"It's ok. I promise, it's ok." She murmured softly in a tight voice, trying to comfort the kit. Hiro leapt to his feet and dragged the deer off into some nearby trees, glaring at the ground as he went.

"Why d-did he ha-have t-to kill it?" Naruto sobbed.

Arisu raised an eyebrow. "We have to eat you know. The meat from that deer is no different from what you eat at your village."

Naruto stopped sobbing, but the tears kept on flowing.

"The deer didn't feel any pain. We are very quick when we hunt, and we only take what we need. Nothing goes to waste." She added, and the tears stopped coming, though he still looked horrified.

A noisy trampling announced Hiro's return. He carried three slabs of meat in his hands, all of them cleaned of any blood. Without a word he gathered charka in his mouth and breathed on the meat, cooking them instantly.

"Show-off." Arisu said, accepting her piece of meet with a nod of thanks and biting into it without another word and tearing off a piece with her fangs.

Naruto tried to do the same, but the meat was too tough. Without even bothering to look at him, Hiro grabbed the meat and lifted it into the air, while Arisu took a lazy swipe at it with her claws, cutting it into strips.

Naruto looked at them with wide eyes before devouring the meat in a matter of minutes. Arisu and Hiro both stood up, having finished their meal also.

"C'mon, lets get back to the Council." Arisu said, scooping up a very drowsy Naruto and putting him onto her back. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was his head resting on her shoulder as she ran, with Hiro running right beside her in perfect sequence.