Chapter 12
Kurama, Naruko, and Naruto were eating at their favorite noodle shop. The two humans were discussing about a very special day tomorrow while the hungry fox was eating his bowl of noodles.
"Come on Naruko,", her brother said, "you haven't had a birthday party since you were five and I think you definitely need one on your 18th birthday."
She only sighed as she played with her food, not happy about going through the same talk. It is true Naruko hasn't had a birthday party since her parent's disappearance, but that was because she stayed away from the village on her birthdays just to avoid them. It just wasn't right to not have her parents with her during celebrations of her birth.
Her hand pinched the bridge of her nose as an attempt stop an oncoming headache.
Eyes closed she responded with, "But it's not right without Mom and Dad. Mom's delicious food won't be there and Dad's lame jokes aren't there either so what's the point?"
Her brother slammed his fist onto the table, furious at his sister's words and catching the attention of Kurama.
Eyes glaring, he scolded, "Dammit, I know that already!"
This brought her eyes to open and look at her brother.
He continued, "Listen Naruko, we're ninja and we're suppose to get used to the idea of the people we love dead in our lives. Mom and Dad are no exception so get used to the idea of them dead!"
Now Naruko was a tough person. A poison that can cause immense pain to the body? Doesn't matter; she'll just laugh it off. A deep wound that can cause most people whimpering to death? That's weak in her standards. However, a talk from her brother that their parents are officially dead? She broke down crying, her hands covering her face to hide the tears.
Angered by this, Kurama tackled Naruto to the ground, paw raised to slash at his neck.
Fear of being used as a weapon wasn't Kurama's number one fear. At least not anymore; that was a long time ago. What scared him the most was someone hurting Naruko and that he wasn't there to fix the problem.
"H-hey Kurama, what was that for?", he nervously asked.
Usually, the fox tackled him playfully when ordered by his sister to have a little fun. Being tackled hard to the ground by him and growling so fiercely worried him.
Naruko wiped the last of her tears and told Kurama, "Stop it Kurama. He was only trying to help me so please get off of him."
The fox only grunted in response and got off Naruto and looked at his friend in sympathy. She still couldn't get over the fact that her parent's are dead.
She beckoned him to jump on her shoulder. "Come on, lets go."
He did what he was told and the two began to leave.
Before they can leave, Naruto asked his sister still on the ground, "Naruko, before you leave, just please come home to have your party. I've already told all the people we know to stop by and celebrate with us; so please come home?"
She nodded her head with her back facing her brother.
(Back in the forest)
Kurama was in his 8 ft form laying on the ground with Naruko in his arms.
Somehow, being so close to each other made him feel uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time. The same could be said for Naruko if she wasn't so depressed about her now unavoidable birthday party.
Kurama had heard of human parties. He knows that it is filled with so much fun with celebrations when friends and families are involved. So what was the deal of Naruko's refusal to a party that's all about her?
"Hey Naruko," he said to get her attention from twirling his chest fur with her finger, "if I were you I wouldn't feel sad about going to a fun party."
"Well I'm not going to the party anyway.", she stated.
He raised an eyebrow. "You lied to him?"
Naruko buried her face into his fur. "Yeah", she answered, her voice a little muffled.
The feeling of her lips against his body made him shiver a little in pleasure.
Naruko noticed and asked, "What's wrong?"
He decided to lie by lifting her off from his chest and saying to her, "I'm worried of your social life that's all."
She rolled her eyes. "I don't need a social life when you're with me you know."
Kurama tried his best not to show the obvious blush he had making the fur on his cheeks look a little redder.
"Naruko, as your friend, please promise me that you will attend the party for my sake."
"But I don't wanna go!", she whined.
"Then as what teenage humans say, do me a solid and go."
She folded her arms. "Fine."
A smile graced the fox's lips.
(At Naruko's house during the night)
Naruko opened the door to her house along with Kurama on her shoulder. She was unsurprised as everyone she knew yelled out surprise. There was of course her brother. Her favorite senseis like Yoko and Moto and Obito. The entire group of team Kakashi was there for some reason. Itachi was there also for some reason. Kiyo and Nia were also there, unknowingly holding hands like lovers do.
The look of her house changed. They were multiple colorful balloons floating around. Some tied to something and some not; leaving them to rub against the ceiling. Many party streamers were either left on the floor or on the many piece of furniture in the house. Many boxes of presents were left besides the far corner of her house. Plates of delicious food were left on the large red table where her mom used to place her own large amounts of food'; leaving everybody not to bring their own because of no room for more.
Naruko sighed and was greeted by many of her quests which she greeted back with a fake smile. Kurama was the only one to notice her discomfort.
(2 hours later)
Naruko was silently crying in the forest on a rather large high tree branch after punching her brother in the face. Something about her not being happy with the party.
She heard the sound of somebody landing behind her but she didn't bother checking it out. She didn't feel like doing anything except except crying.
A large hand picked up her body so their faces looked at each other in the eyes. One pair with caring in them and the other with sadness.
"Took me some time to find you but I did thanks to your beautiful scent", he explained to her, hoping his compliment would cheer her up.
An arm wiped the remaining tears away. "Whatever", she scoffed at him.
"Attitude", Kurama playfully remarked.
This brought a playful giggle from her. "Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it?"
"This."
He then threw her off the to the side with her back facing the oncoming ground.
"Kurama you jerk!"
She then did a couple of spins in the air and landed perfectly on the ground. A sight in front of her caught her attention. It was another present that she hasn't seen before back in the party. It was a small pink box with purple polka dots and a purple ribbon. Her hands picked it up and shook it.
That's when Kurama landed in front her, causing some fallen leaves to float around him.
She held out the box to him. "How did you manage this?"
"I got some help from Nia. It's pretty hard to get help when you can't talk to them."
"What's inside it?"
"I believe you're suppose to open it to find out", he pointed out to her.
"All right all right I will."
Pale hands undid the ribbon and it fell to the grass. She opened the flaps of the box and was surprised to find what she really wanted in her birthday. All of her presents given to her were all boring things for adults. The present that Kurama gave her however, was a new Volcan 300. Something that her brother refused to make despite how easy it was to make one.
Her body jumped towards him and doing her best to wrap her arms around his neck with one hand carrying her new Volcan 300. "Thank you", she finally told him.
He sighed in happiness and wrapped his arms around her. "Your welcome and happy birthday."
"You're forgetting something", she proclaimed to him.
"And what might that be?"
"The happy birthday song of course!"
"But I don't know it."
"Fine then dummy I'll sing it for you and then you'll have to sing it for me."
Her soft voice sang the song beautifully and slowly. His strong voice sang the song majestically and slowly. Naruko fell asleep as he finished the last word.
He laid down on to the grass and kissed Naruko's forehead. "I love you Naruko", he told her before falling asleep too.
