Chapter 8
"My name is Mayonaka Arekushisu· Sōn, but that's a huge mouthful, so just call me Midnight, Alexis, Alex, or even Lexi." She said and the world promptly disappeared around him. His ears rang with the name as it struck something deep inside of him. His eyes zeroed in on her face as he stared at her in shock and confusion. Why was he reacting like this? What was so special about-?
He closed his eyes for a moment as he thought about it. He reopened his eyes, only for them to widen like saucers.
He was in his mindscape.
Kyuubi chuckled at the shocked look.
"What's so funny? Let me in on it." It wasn't Naruto that spoke, but the girl. With that, he promptly panicked. His breathing sped up, as he found it harder and harder to breathe. "Hey, what's going on with you?" The girl asked as her eyes widened. "Hey, come on, relax. Breathe!" She said as she too began panicking. Kyuubi rolled her/his eyes. 'Humans.'
"OI!" Kyuubi snarled. "Calm down already!" It snapped as Naruto and Alexis continued panicking. 'That's it.'Kyuubi thought with a low growl, then promptly lifted its paw, slammed it down into the water, and soaked both Naruto and Alexis with nasty, disgusting, vile sewer water.
"Ew!" Alexis shrieked. "Oh, nasty! Why didn't it phase through me? What the Hell?!" She shouted as she shook herself, trying to get the disgusting water off of her. "I think I'm going to be sick." Naruto said lowly, finally stopping his panicking, as he tried to get the disgusting water off him as well. Kyuubi snorted. "Babies." It grumbled before suddenly blinking. 'What is he doing?' Kyuubi thought to itself at a disturbance outside, but then brushed it off and returned its attention to the two.
"Dude, dudette, whatever the Hell you are! This is way too nasty! Get it off me!" Alexis flailed, completely and utterly grossed out. Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. The girl was more concerned about the nasty water than the fact that a giant nine-tailed fox stood before her in a cage. Sure, there was the fact that… Well… That will be revealed later. "You aren't afraid of me?" Kyuubi asked curiously as the girl turned a grimace toward it.
"What do I have to be afraid of? I'm already dead or whatever." She shrugged, and though she was still grossed out, she managed to calm down. "Plus, you feel familiar in a way." She said with another shrug. Meanwhile, Naruto ignored them, muttering to himself. "This is so nasty. This is disgusting." He muttered, stomach churning.
Kyuubi rolled its eyes again. "It's your mind, you can easily think it off of you and the other brat." Kyuubi informed them, annoyed with their whining and complaining. "Hey! I'm not a brat! ... Most of the time, anyway." Alexis added. "Oh, Kitten, seriously, though, get this off of me." Alexis said as Naruto almost began to panic again.
'No! She can't know about Kyuubi! No, no, no, no, no, no- What the Hell?! Why are my thoughts projecting?!' He exclaimed mentally as they raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, from what Kyuubi just said, this is your mind, so it makes sense that your thoughts are projecting out loud." Alexis answered as Kyuubi nodded.
"Is it really so bad that she sees and knows about me?" Kyuubi asked, considering that the girl hadn't really even been bothered all that much. "It's really not." Alexis agreed. "So, you're the container for the Kyuubi. Big deal. You're still you." The girl shrugged before suddenly flailing around.
"Wait a second! You never told me your name!" She whined. "Of course, I know your first name, I've heard people say it here and there, but I don't know your last name." She pouted. "My name is… is…" He stammered, though his thoughts already projected it. 'Naruto Uzumaki.'
"-Namikaze." Kyuubi muttered under its breath. "Huh?" Naruto and Alexis asked as Kyuubi rolled its eyes. "Nevermind." It said. "Anyway, you know, the name seems kind of familiar." Alexis mused. "It's tickling me." She said humorously, but she brushed it off. Naruto blinked. "You know, your name kind of reminds me of something, too." Naruto muttered as Alexis instantly looked interested.
"Maybe we knew each other in another lifetime." She joked. "In your other lifetime, anyway. Naruto knows you from this current one, though." Kyuubi sighed as the two turned confused glances to it. "What do you mean?" Alexis asked. Kyuubi sighed. "I was hoping that hearing each other's names would bring your memories back, but I guess not." Kyuubi grumbled lowly.
"I guess that means I have to fix this shit. Great." Kyuubi scowled. "Why are you so grumpy? What crawled up your ass and died?" Alexis smirked as Kyuubi shot her a threatening glower. She instantly had the sense to throw her arms up in surrender. "Alright, alright, sheesh. Don't eat me over a little joke, Not-So-Baby Meow Meow." She grinned as Kyuubi swished its tails in annoyance and scowled.
"Alex…" Naruto shook his head before thinking about what Kyuubi had said earlier. He could think this nasty crap (literally, most likely) off of them? Alright, might as well try while those two argued.
"My name is Kurama, and you will address me as such." Kyuubi said warningly as Alexis nodded absently as she heard what Naruto was thinking and trying to do. "Got it, Kumajiro." She said absently as Kurama bristled. "I said Kurama, you foolish little-" Kurama was cut off by a cheer from Alexis and Naruto's little victory dance.
"Yay! The nasty water is gone!" They cheered. Kurama was amused for a moment, then grew irate again. "Alright, enough." Kurama said gruffly, though it was ignored. "Fine," Kurama growled, "I suppose that means that you two can figure out how you know each other on your own, right? And whether or not the foolish brat is a ghost, or your imagination." Kurama sneered, turning its back on them, ignoring how difficult it was in the small cage.
"No, wait!" The predictable yelp came from its container. "Yeah, hang on a second, I'm sorry for messing your name up, Kurenai. Oh, wait, that was the black-haired lady, wasn't it?" Alexis asked as Kurama bristled and growled under its breath. 'Why are humans so annoying?'
"My. Name. Is. Kurama." Kurama bit out. "Right, Kurami." Alexis nodded as Kurama's eye twitched. That had to be on purpose. Naruto nudged Alexis slightly, indicating her to knock it off so that Kurama would tell them what was up.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, Kurama." She said and skipped through the cage bars. Naruto and Kurama's eyes widened as she dared to step foot into the cage. Alexis stopped by Kurama's right front paw and gave it an apologetic hug. "Alright, explain please." She smiled cheerfully as she sat on Kurama's front paw. "Story time~" She sang-song. "Come join us, Kitten!" Alexis called cheerfully as Naruto shook his head as he noticed Kurama was still shocked, but would likely get angry in a second.
"I'll pass." Naruto said as Alexis shrugged. "Alright," She said nonchalantly, "your loss." She said as Kurama got over his previous shock. "OI!" Kurama snapped irately. "Get off of me! Do you have any idea what I could do to you if I wanted to? I am not a couch or chair for you to lounge on!" It snarled, enraged at her audacity, but not trying to brush her off from its paw.
Naruto noticed that it didn't try to hurt her or kick her off, so he smirked slightly as he realized something. His plans projected as he slipped through the bars as well. "Don't you even dare, you brat!" Kurama snapped as Naruto went to sit on his other paw. "You can't hurt us." Naruto said matter-of-factly, though he was still a bit cautious, ready to jump away at any second. Kurama glared at him, making him believe that his hypothesis was correct. "Just you wait." Kurama growled under its breath.
"Come on, tell us now, please?" Alexis asked to the bristling fox, wanting to know already. Kurama scowled down at the two. "Please, Kurama?" Naruto asked as well. The scowl slowly dissipated into a light frown, then nothing. Kurama sighed as it laid down slowly, though it did jostle the two a bit in the descent down.
"Stupid brats." A grumble.
"Is that a yes?" Hopeful inquiry.
"Pretty please with whatever you like the most on top?" A light-hearted plea.
"… Fine. But not because I like you or anything!" Came the defensive bark.
"Thank you, Kurama."
"If you say so, Mr. Tsundere Fox!"
"Tch… I guess we'll start from the beginning… Your first meeting." With that proclamation, the sewer around them dissipated.
…
Kakashi shunshined to the forest he just knew Naruto would be at. He was right, of course. Naruto was sitting in his circle, frowning and looking quite unimpressed with an oval beside him. Naruto rolled his cerulean eyes. "I'm still stunned from the whole music number you gave me." He drawled, leaving Kakashi disappointed in him. What, now the 'ghost' was giving music numbers? Kakashi wanted to know who and what the foreign chakra was, but… There was no way the 'ghost' was real, right? There was nothing there! Quite obviously, too!
Kakashi was still unsure, however, as Naruto continued his one-sided conversation. Kakashi moved his headband up, so that his other eye was uncovered. He opened the red eye and stared where Naruto was. His eyes both widened. There was chakra there! A small amount, true, but there was chakra there. His shock and uncertainty was quickly nulled.
It looked to be mostly Naruto's chakra, with some nature chakra mixed in, with a hint of darker chakra... Kyuubi's? There was no ghost, after all… Simply Naruto's unconscious mind and chakra conjuring up friends for him, though he didn't know why some of Kyuubi's chakra was mixed in… It was probably just Kyuubi's chakra mixing with Naruto's some more due to him being upset, and that probably solved the 'foreign' chakra. Kakashi sighed sadly. Naruto would surely hate him if he called him out on this 'ghost' and tried to make him realize that the 'ghost' wasn't real. However, he couldn't just let Naruto do this to himself… It wasn't healthy.
Kakashi's attention was brought back to Naruto when he gave a surprised look. "I… I know what you mean. Like, you can remember some things, but then it goes blank and you can't remember the rest." Naruto said as Kakashi frowned. Naruto had problems with his memory? The Third had never told him anything like that when he briefed him on Naruto… and the other two members of Team Seven, of course.
He snapped his attention back to Naruto again. He really needed to stay focused… What the Hell was wrong with him? He was an ex-ANBU member for Kami's sake… He shouldn't be getting side-tracked so easily. "Actually, yeah... Sometimes, I just feel a sense of déjà vu… It's actually mostly when you're around… You know, when you said that thing about life, about how it's a balancing act, it hit me really hard, though I only felt it after I went home." Naruto said in an admitting sort of tone.
He then proceeded to start talking about food, much to Kakashi's surprise admitting that candy was his first favorite food, then ramen. He then asked what scones were… What were scones? It sounded odd… Perhaps something Naruto's mind conjured up, or something he had heard a foreigner talk about. Then Naruto fell into idle, one-sided chatter.
Naruto suddenly tensed and froze, obviously having great inner-turmoil over something. He was silent and tense for a while before he finally uttered a small, stuttered, "alright." Naruto tensed further a couple seconds later, looking confused and lost. His eyes closed and he slumped slightly.
Kakashi's eyes widened. What the Hell? He decided that now was a better time than ever to show himself. He jumped out of the tree he was hiding in. "Naruto…?" He asked after a moment. There was no response. Silent treatment? Or was Naruto just too occupied in his thoughts? The chakra from beside him was gone.
"Naruto?" Kakashi asked again as he slowly reached out to grab Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto?" Kakashi asked again, stronger this time as he gently shook the boy's shoulder. No response. Kakashi frowned, then took a deep breath as he decided to just talk to him, anyway.
"Naruto, you're right. Sort of. Not about everything, though, you know? Wait, sorry, that sounded bad. What I meant is that you were right about me having no right to just insert myself into your life all of a sudden. However, I don't just suddenly care. I've always cared, Naruto. I'm sorry that I didn't show it enough for you to realize it. I never disliked you, or hated you, or anything like that. I really am sorry that you thought so. I care for you. A lot. So, um, yeah." Kakashi ended awkwardly as he waited for a response.
When, once again, there was no response, Kakashi frowned, worried. "Naruto?" Kakashi asked again, just as Naruto jerked up. Naruto's eyes were full of angry tears as he glared at Kakashi. "Take me to the Hokage's office." Naruto muttered. Kakashi blinked, but nodded. "Did you hear what I-" "No. If you said anything before now, I didn't hear it." Naruto answered before Kakashi hesitantly nodded.
Dammit, he'd have to go through an awkward apology again… But it would be worth it if Naruto forgave him. With one last nod and concerned glance, Kakashi shunshined them to the Hokage's office.
Uh oh. What's Naruto so sadly angry about? Why does he want to go see the old hag? Alexis was likely to turn into an OC since there's no one canon I could really use, so please don't flame me or be angry at me for it! My headcanon says that Kurama can't really hurt anyone, especially since the seal is in good enough shape and this is Naruto's mindscape. It also says that Kurama is incredibly tsundere. Oh, I put it, instead of he or she, because someone reviewed that it doesn't really make sense to them when people make Kurama a girl, so I decided since most people put Kurama as she, I'll just say screw it and make Kurama an it. Lol, Kakashi's awkwardly nice apology was unheard. I'm an ass. Hehe.
ANYHOW, THIS IS A DOUBLE UPDATE, SINCE ONE OF MY REVIEWERS SAID I SHOULD DOUBLE UPDATE SINCE I LOVE YA'LL SO MUCH. This is for you and the rest of my lovelies, lovelydragonfly! The next chappie is coming out right after this. REVIEW, PLEASE. REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. My goal before this story is over is to get 75 reviews. I may just end up crying if I get that many reviews, lol. Ya'll are my inspiration. I love you guys! Ciao! Review!
