Chapter 12
The creature wearing Naruto's body blinked. "No, he did not summon me. He created me."
"What do you mean? He created you, how?" Tsunade pressed, her eyes wide.
The ice creature blinked again. "I am not sure, one moment everything was dark and the next, I existed inside of him."
Jiraiya whistled in surprise then regarded the demon with a raised eyebrow. "You caused quite a lot of trouble you know."
The ice demon turned its eyes to the floor, a shamed expression visible on its face. "I am sorry, it was never my intention to cause any trouble or harm."
"You don't act like a demon." Tsunade pointed out quietly.
Kyuubi snorted. "That's because demons are raised to hate things as soon as their born, this one was created by the kit and probably had nothing to learn from except the things he saw, heard or what he felt the kit feel."
Jiraiya gazed over his shoulder at the fire demon and smirk. "So unlike you this one's got manners."
"He has whatever the kit has."
Jiraiya hung his head dejectedly. "In that case this one's probably a brat too."
Tsunade gave him a sharp elbow in the side then turned her attention to the other demon. "You can't leave Naruto's body can you?"
"No, the seal you used to bind my power when I came to be prevents me from leaving, it is because of this other demon, Kyuubi, leaving my masters body that I am able to come to the surface."
"I see, do you promise not to harm any of the villagers or this village in any way?"
"Of course, my master loves this place very much, I could not possibly hurt anyone."
Jiraiya frowned softly then moved to lean against the end of the hospital bed. "What if you're attacked?"
"This is my masters body, I will protect it with my life." The creature informed him simply as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"In that case I think it would be best if I moved you away from here. How would you feel about moving into the Uchiha compound?" Tsunade inquired, ignoring the sputtering sounds coming from the Kyuubi.
"It is my masters home and a suitable place to live."
"Fine, that's what we'll do then, you'll move into Naruto's room until we decide what to do with you." Tsunade decided casting a soft smile towards the peaceful demon before turning to Jiraiya. "Go let the rest know that they'll be having a visitor while I settle things here."
Jiraiya nodded then with a quick seal and a puff of smoke he was gone.
"You're serious about this aren't you?" Itachi asked quietly.
He was sitting half reclined in his bed. He had been judged fit to leave the hospital just over a week ago simply because he made the hospital staff uneasy and he wasn't deemed likely to die without a moments notice. He was however confined to his bedroom and mainly his bed because he still wasn't fit to walk on his own but more so because he didn't want to leave it.
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as he regarded Itachi and nodded. "He'll be here as soon as Tsunade sorts a few things out."
"I see, do you have any idea how you're going to separate them?"
The sennin shrugged. "Probably the same way we separated Kyuubi and Naruto."
Itachi sighed and turned his gaze to the door just as Sasuke barged in. "Brother."
"Where is he?" The teen demanded, his breath coming out in ragged pants.
"Coming."
"When?"
Jiraiya sighed then moved towards Sasuke and grabbed him by his shoulder, spinning him around he pushed him back towards the door. "Now, so make yourself useful and make sure his room's ready."
Sasuke hesitated just long enough to glare at the older man and cast a glance behind him to where his brother was lounging then disappeared out the door and down the hallway.
With another sigh Jiraiya turned his focus back to Itachi. "What do you think?"
"My brother has accepted Naruto as his best friend, he's starting to realise what that means."
"I didn't say anything about that."
"You didn't have to, if Naruto manages to recover after all this they'll become like brothers." Itachi said, almost sourly.
The frog sennin nodded then looked around and blinked, noticing for the first time that Kisame was absent from the room. "Where's Kisame?"
"Out, he said he felt like a little excitement and that he was going to find out how many sins he could commit in the space of an hour." Itachi informed him with the barest of shrugs. "Now, would you mind leaving, I'm tired."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow then sighed and nodded before turning and leaving the room.
For several hours after the blond nin had returned and after Kisame had reappeared he sat in that same place in the middle of his bed, his knees curled up to his chest and his arms brought up in front of his face. He lay like that for hours, not sleeping but simply listening to the sound of rain hitting the roof and letting his mind wander over the events of the past three months.
It still shook him, haunted him in his dreams. Being torn apart and having his pride ripped from him but knowing he was powerless to stop it. It wasn't a position he ever thought he'd be in, let alone for the sake of someone else. Moving one hand he traced along his collar bone, stopping when his fingers brushed against a slight rise. It was a scar that had been left behind intentionally by Kyuubi, bitten and scarred so he would remember who owned him.
As if he could possibly forget.
He had trained his entire life to become stronger than the rest, he still did, but in the end it still wasn't enough. He had allowed the boy to become close, had let his heart thaw and now he had paid the price.
The hand traced further down to the various cuts and bruises that were slowly healing. That one last time Kyuubi had been especially rough, as if he knew what was going to happen and was dealing out punishment early.
His thoughts turned then, away from the demon who had abused him to the boy who had accepted him even after all he had done to him.
"Does it hurt?"
His eyes flew wide open and he spun around in his bed to face the door. The ice demon stood there regarding him curiously. He merely stared at the demon in shock, it was true that his mind had been elsewhere but he still should have sensed something from the demon, but here it was standing in his room with his back to the closed door which he hadn't even heard open in the first place.
"Are you hurt?" It asked again then when it didn't receive an answer it moved into the room and climbed up onto the big bed and crawled its way up to Itachi and nuzzled his cheek. "It is alright, I will not hurt you. You must be lonely on your own, I will keep you company."
"That's…" He started but ended up at a loss for words as the demon moved up just enough to wriggles its legs under the blankets and lay down beside him.
"Do not be sad." It whispered in his ear and wrapped one arm around him.
He lay there entwined in the blonds arms, thinking of it as Naruto but knowing it wasn't him, that it was only the body of the boy he had become friends with. They lay there for what seemed like hours until finally his eyelids began to droop and he began to sink into sleep. Just before reaching it though he heard his door open and someone walk in.
"So you're here."
Sasuke.
"He was lonely, I am keeping him company."
"I told you not to leave me."
"But he was sad."
"Hn."
The bed drooped behind him where the demon was lying and the blankets lifted for a moment.
"Now we can all be happy."
They lay like that in the bed and fell asleep, Itachi curled up and facing away from the door, the ice demon behind him and holding him and Sasuke laying behind him one arm draped over his waist in a protective fashion. Each was protecting the last and keeping them warm and secure.
Each was acknowledging the other, accepting and cherishing the others company.
They slept all through the night and into the next day and instead of suffering from nightmares each of the dreamed a dream so sweat that when they awoke they couldn't help but smile at the memory and warmth the dream left them with.
The next day
Tsunade sighed. "Alright, to separate you from Naruto we've decided to use the ability we used to separate Kyuubi and Naruto, but for that jutsu to work we need to at least partially release the seal that's holding you in his body."
"I understand."
"The seal won't be completely destroyed because a demon, even a polite one, can't be allowed to run free, so please understand that this isn't because we think of you as a threat."
The ice creature smiled sweetly. "I understand."
Tsunade nodded. "Good, now please sit over there and we'll begin." She instructed calmly, pointing to an area in the centre of the room.
When he was seated on the floor Kakashi stood and rubbed his head before making his way over to the demon. "I'm not being paid enough for this." He muttered under his breath then kneeled down in front of the blond.
He began to mold his chakra then quickly made a few complicated seals with his hands then touched the centre of the blond nins forehead with his index finger. Slowly the red marking that formed the seal over Naruto's body began to drain away, turning back on itself then a writhing mass of blood red figures appeared across the pale skin. Kakashi slowly moved his finger away from Naruto's forehead the in between his shoulder blades and stopped, chakra flared around his hand once before dying out and he released a sigh before going to work on the next jutsu. A few quick seals were performed then he muttered something underneath his breath.
His chakra whirled to life in his hands and he moved them both up to either side of the blonds head and gently took hold of it. After a second of silence the blond suddenly gasped and fell backwards, his body convulsing. Slowly but surely his body began to split apart and soon two bodies lay gasping on the floor.
Naruto looked like normal, his lightly tanned skin free of any marks or scars apart for the fox whiskers that constantly adorned his cheeks, his eyes, which were wide open and staring at the ceiling were his normal azure and his lips had returned to their healthy pale pink tone.
Laying next to Naruto and already unconscious was the other form. The ice demon's body was slim but most definitely naked revealing the fact that so far as they could see, the demon was genderless. It was slim but well formed at the same time. Its skin was pale and its hair white with the barest hints of blue around the roots. Its lips were full and also a faint shade of blue.
They called it Yuki.
Firstly, thank you everyone for your patience and for you continued reviews, they do boost my day and help me see that my work is appreciated. I' m sorry for the long hiatus but things have been rather hectic for a while over here and hopefully now things are starting to settle down a bit I can get back to writing and submitting my fics regularly.
Well…that was interesting. Everyone's getting all happy and sappy….you just know something's going to come along and spoil it for everyone. I'm a little curious to see how Naruto will react to having two demons running along behind him to make sure he stays alive….. this is gonna be fun! Please R&R! I'm dying for comments!
