A/N: Thanks to: Dragon Man 180, Icy Wolf13, ZaBuchar, DeExil, Mark20020, IMAGINATOR, ApexPredator, Aaron Leach, Paul Evans, and narutojazz19 for reviewing the last chapter.
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Episode 12 : So Far Away
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Harsh pants escaping through Kitsune's mouth and nose, every wheeze feeling like iron wool was being scraped against her lungs as she tried to get control over her breathing. She finally managed to jump onto a random tiled roof and lied down in exhaustion for a minute before standing up again, not wanting her muscles to cramp up.
Eventually, the rapid pounding of her heart began to slow and she sighed gratefully as the cool morning air started to take an effect on her sweaty body. She squinted up at the rising sun and realized that she had run almost the entire night. Now looking down from her high perch to the beginning morning crowd, with their cheery morning attitudes and greetings, her face scrunched up in distaste as their merry attitudes were exactly opposite to her own.
Yet, as she had nothing else better to do, she watched the various people pass by far below her feet. After a few minutes she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the reason of why she'd run the entire night. Quickly after she'd disappeared from Naruto and their apartment, she really had the urge to sprint back and say sorry, but her pride wouldn't take it and so she had practically tried running away yet found that she couldn't get fifty miles from the town before she had run all the way back, yet she REFUSED to go back to their apartment in case that idiot blond caught her and so she'd practically ran around in circles all night to get ride of her excess energy caused by this fueling annoyance. Huffing at those thoughts, causing a few of her long bangs to rearrange on her flushed-from-exercise face, she confirmed to herself that it's HIS fault for their little tiff and she had absolutely NO responsibility to go over there and apologize. If anything, HE should be the one running up to HER and begging at her feet for forgiveness since all she'd been trying to do was HELP him when he'd practically thrown her out.
Sighing yet again, she allowed herself to lazily flop back onto her back and stare up at the clouds that absently passed through the morning sky, vaguely lit up with colorful light hues from the young morning sun. As she saw a particular shade of deep orange, she shot up from her down position again as the sudden thought of Kota.
"I need to find Ko-chan," she said outloud as she suddenly got to her feet in a hurry, holding her nose up to the air to try and find her trusty partner. With so many different scents in the crowded village, Kitsune found that she needed to use her Beast Senses to find Kota's scent. When she did find it, she opened her eye and blinked in surprise, finding that Kiba's and many dog's scents were mixed in. But as she remembered in another brain flash how Jiraiya had said he'd put her fox in the care of Kiba's sister who was a vet, it all clicked. So without another thought or word, she started jumping the roofs to the outskirts of the east side of the village where Kiba and his family resided.
As she arrived at the cozy house that was nuzzled in the thicket of a few old trees, she suddenly felt hesitant. Sure, she knew Kiba as an aquantance (at best) and he was taking care of her pet, but that still wasn't exactly enough in her mind to suffice if she suddenly dropped out of nowhere and knocked on his door with a sweet smile.
But as she reaffirmed that she needed Kota, especially since she hadn't seen him in what seemed like forever, it gave her enough courage to square her shoulders stubbornly and stiffly march up to the wooden door. Her hand shook a little as she formed it into a fist and lightly knocked on the hard surface. She was about to knock for a second time, but she started to faintly hear footsteps and before she knew it, the door flew open, barely missing her nose, to reveal Kiba.
The young ninja blinked in surprise at seeing the bright haired girl standing at his door, arms crossed behind her in an obviously nervous way, before he grinned devilishly at Kitsune, the type of grin that only a guy thinking he's hot can give to a girl. Kitsune blinked herself as she compared Kiba's type of smile to the one that Naruto gave her and found that they were completely different. Naruto's was more the grin of an enthusiastic kindergartner first seeing his best friend in the morning type of grin, not the kind of 'I think you and I should get together' like Kiba's. She wanted to slap herself as she wished for a split second that Naruto would smile like Kiba to her.
"What can I help ya with?" his gruff voice broke Kitsune from her thoughts and forced her to look at him as he leaned against the door, that confident grin still set on his wild face.
"Ah...I'm here to pick up my fox," she finally managed to word as she looked at his slanted eyes.
"Fox...?" Kiba asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah. A tall, white haired guy had supposedly dropped him off...a month or so ago in fact," she explained as she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, thoughts once again as to how she really wasn't so great of a owner.
"Ya know, my family takes care of DOGS not anything else-"
"Kiba! Whose at the door!"
Kitsune wanted to gasp as she heard a female voice that held just as much confidence as Kiba's grin.
While rolling his eyes, Kiba moved aside from the door to let his older sister Hana get a clear view of Kitsune.
"I'm here to pick up my fox Kota," Kitsune repeated, her hands slightly shaking behind her back as she saw the older girl's eyes bore into her own hazel. Finally, not being able to take Hana's stare anymore, Kitsune bashfully looked down at her bare feet while internally cursing herself for not being able to hold the eyecontact any longer.
"Yes, yes. I remember now. Cheery little fellow. If you wait a second I'll wake him up for you since he's been sleeping a lot lately," Hana's sentences were as sharp as her long canines that she showed off in a smile to Kitsune before she disappeared into the house yet again, leaving the two teenagers by themselves once again.
"So...where's Naruto?" Kiba finally asked out to get ride of the unnerving silence.
"Why should I care?" Kitsune sneered, showing off her own sharp teeth as they brushed against her bottom lip.
"Whoa...someone's defensive," Kiba blinked, thinking that everything between the blond and her was cheery and great like it always looked.
Kitsune sighed as she realized she'd put her anger out on someone who didn't deserve it. "Sorry," she whispered the apology as she slumped her shoulders.
"...no worries," Kiba snorted, not used to seeing Kitsune in such a down like mood.
"Here ya go," Hana interrupted the two as she pushed Kiba aside non too gently, holding out her arms that held Kota who had seemed to have grown yet again and was now the size of a normal dog, making Kitsune think of how strong Hana was too to carry him with ease.
"He got fatter," Kitsune observed as she grabbed him from Hana, almost groaning at the dead weight.
"Hey, he's a growing fox, and mind telling me why he has two tails?" Hana asked as she crossed her arms in front of her full chest, tapping her foot against the floor for further emphasis.
"Well...long story, too short on time," the words fell out of Kitsune's mouth before she could stop herself. Giving a final smile as a goodbye, she dissapeared in a swoosh as she jumped away.
Kiba and Hana looked at the spot where the orange jump-suited girl had been not a second ago before they both sighed (for different reasons) and Hana closed the door.
Meanwhile, Kitsune was making her way towards the Hokage monument in an alarming speed, as if she was scared the two Inuzuka were going to follow her. Finally sighing in relief, she arrived on top of the stone faces, allowing her feet to swing under her. Looking up at the now light blue sky, she threw her face into the silky pelt of Kota to muffle a groan. She didn't know why she was feeling so miserable, even after getting Kota back, and she had a hunch that she wasn't going to figure it out anytime soon. But she knew at least that the she seriously needed a break or she was going to snap! Knowing she wasn't the smartest in the bunch, she knew that her mind wasn't all that resilient and couldn't figure out situations all too well. On top of that, she wasn't like Naruto or Lee, who both tended to be such cheerfully unaffected people that nothing really bothered them in the first place and if something DID they simply worked through it with more vigor then Kitsune thought existed. She wondered breifly as she finally withdrew her face from Kota, why some of that hadn't rubbed off on her, especially with all the time that she'd spent with the young blond.
As she absently petted Kota, causing the carnivore to purr in delight, Kitsune officially decided that once Naruto effing APOLOGIZED to her, he was going to make all of Kitsune's decisions for her. Why? Because, Kitsune thought wryly, she didn't seem to be able to run her life without him around.
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Naruto groaned as he rolled over in his bed, having gotten barely a wink of sleep last night. He closed his eyes as he reminisced on how Kitsune was usually there right next to him whenever they went to bed and no matter how much he argued, she would always find her way to him while he was sleeping. After a while, he had finally accepted it and it wasn't all that bad. Especially on those cold nights when they were on the road, her radiating body warmth making him feel like he was in a safe place.
But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he heard a knock at his door. Flinging himself off of his bed, not caring how his hat flew off, he lunged towards the door and opened it with a strong tug, hoping he would find Kitsune on the other side.
When he saw the tired face of Shikamaru, he was not the slightest bit appeased. If anything, he now felt worse.
"Look Shikamaru, I don't know why you're here but right now is NOT a good ti-"
"It's Sasuke. He's gone."
Naruto's bright eyes widened as Kitsune was shoved out of his brain for the moment.
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"Kitsune?"
Blinking open her eyes, the girl who had just been called out to yawned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, almost screaming in annoyance as bright sunlight filtered through the thin layer of her eyelids.
"What're you doing?" that same voice continued to call to her. Finally blinking her eyes open, eyelashes lightly fluttering, she found herself starring directly into the still young sun. She couldn't help but let out a squeal of annoyance this time as it full-out burned her eyes. Deciding to turn over, she found that whatever she was lying on sure as HELL wasn't as soft as a bed, or even grassy ground for that matter.
But as she opened her eyes again and found her view was looking downward, she finally saw the person who had been calling her.
"Iruka-senpai!" she drowsily waved, and in the process almost fell off the tall rocky surface.
"Why are you up there?" the brown haired teacher asked in a mix of surprise and wonder, his students crowding around to stare up at Kitsune in equal awe.
"Well, considering that me and Naruto fought, there was no where else I really thought of going," Kitsune laughed in her sleep-deprived state, groping around and successfully finding Kota, using the still sleeping fox as a pillow. She was lightly shocked in how he had still to wake up.
"But...shouldn't you be helping Naruto?" Iruka pried, still paranoid that she was going to fall off the monument.
"In what? Swallowing his pride so he can apologize to me?" she sourly spat back, making Konohamaru who was standing next to Iruka want to beat her in all the more for making fun of his idol.
"No. Sasuke ran away and Tsunade ordered Shikamaru to assemble a team to retrieve him."
Kitsune sat up in a flash and before Iruka knew it, she was standing in front of him on her tippy-toes so that she was now only a few inches shorter then him.
"What?!" she ground out through sharp teeth, causing Iruka to gulp in apprehension, never seeing her so riled up before.
"I think you may be able to catch them at the gate," the young teacher offered as he pointed in the direction of the town's large gates that were easily visible from this high view.
"Thanks," she said as she turned back around, her hair viciously whipping Iruka in the face, to pick up Kota and go off in a blur.
"Wait, Kitsune!" Iruka cried out in vain, but sighed as he realized she was long gone.
"I shouldn't have told her that, should I?" Iruka asked as he turned to Tsunade who had just finished climbing up the stairs and had just heard the two's last sentences before seeing Kitsune sprint off.
"Let her do what she wants. It's not like she can screw it up any more," the busty woman sighed as she watched Kitsune who was nothing more then a colorful blur with her orange outfit and redish-gold hair.
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"So this is everyone...?" Naruto asked as he looked around the circle at the faces of Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, and Kiba.
"It's all I think of to get at the short time period. Now, open your packs so Neji can inspect," Shikamaru ordered to which the others nodded and agreed to.
"So Naruto..." Kiba suddenly voiced, "What's up with you and Kitsune?"
"What are you talking about?" he ground out through grit teeth.
"Well...when she came to get her fox at my house she seemed really out of it."
Naruto only snorted in affimation, yet his mind was going a million miles per hour at the information. Was she really disoriented about it all? If so, they why didn't she just come and apologize already?
As Neji moved to Shikamaru's bag, Naruto almost groaned out loud as he knew that it wasn't even remotely her fault for him snapping at her, she had been only trying to calm him down from his angered state because of Sasuke. He finally fully realized that she had been trying to comfort him even thought she didn't really know how and he'd practically slapped her away.
"Alright, if that's it, then we should be leaving now," Shikamaru broke Naruto's thoughts, causing the blond to almost have a panic attack. What if he didn't come back, what if he failed and...
"Naruto," a soft voice broke him out of his troubling thoughts yet again, causing him to whip around in hope only to find a teary eyed Sakura.
"Please. I couldn't bring him back and..." she swallowed, Naruto guessing as a way to try and hold back her tears, "...you're the only one who can do it now. Please...this is the only thing I'll ever ask of you. Please bring him back..."
"I will Sakura, you can bet on it!" Naruto pushed aside Kitsune in favor of his team again, knowing that he was going to worry about the older girl but his team did come first. He had known them longer, and they'd practically grown up together. He'd only known Kitsune for a few select months. Yet as he tried to use this reason, he couldn't help but feel like it didn't suffice.
"Let your youthful fire burn!" Lee exclaimed from his leaning position on his crutches, making Naruto's smile become a little more true. Yes, he had responsibility to this village, and especially to Sasuke.
"We'll come back with one extra person, just you see!" Naruto continued to yell as he pumped his fist, turning to start following the others down the dirt road.
"WAAAAIT!" a voice suddenly pierced through the air, causing all heads to turn to a person who landed in front of the rescue team boys.
Naruto's eyes widened as he took in the panting face of Kitsune, who leaned down to try and catch her breath in the next second.
"What is is you want, you're wasting our time," Neji icily informed as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Let me talk to Naruto," she continued to pant out with wide eyes that Naruto had never really seen before, she was really wired wasn't she?
"What?" Naruto asked in apprehension as he walked forward to her, hoping that she wouldn't create a scene. Too bad for the young nin that's exactly what she did.
For she slapped him right there, in front of everyone.
"Did Naruto just get..." Chouji started with a mouthful of chips.
"Bitch slapped, yep," Kiba nodded.
But after their hushed words, it was still silent between the two as they stared at each other, neither of them even blinking.
"Are you done?" Naruto asked in a flat voice, feeling as if with Sasuke running away and now this his emotions were draining away.
"Not even close. But..." Kitsune nibbled her bottom lip before continuing, "I know that you need to be in full health for your rescue of Sasuke."
Naruto blinked at the taller girl before he could only think of saying, "Thanks."
She just as smartly nodded her full head of hair before sniffing.
"So come on," she then grinned her widest as she turned to go down the dirt road.
"You're coming?" Naruto gasped out, forgetting about his stinging cheek altogether.
"You are, right?"
"Course." His blond eyebrows furrowed.
"Then so will I," she stated as if it was the one truth in the world.
For the first time that day, Naruto sincerely smiled.
"Wait," Shikamaru's steady voice interrupted, "You can't come."
"Why not?" Kitsune's enlightened face suddenly twisted to dark.
"Because for one, you don't have permission from me and two, you can't because you're not an official citizen. Only way you'd be able to do that is if you asked Tsunade for special permission, and that'd take too long for us to wait. As it is already, you've wasted too much of our time."
Kitsune's face dropped into one of impassiveness, Naruto sighing as he knew he'd allowed a lapse of judgement. Even if it was allowed, he didn't want her to.
"He's right, and I don't want you getting hurt anyway," Naruto affirmed.
"I won't get hurt, I'm not a total weakling," she growled back, baring her fangs at the blond in defiance.
"What about with Orochimaru? You almost died," he snarled right back as he took a step forward, as to which Kitsune reacted by taking a step back.
"No. I want to come."
"You're staying here."
"No."
Naruto closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. "Please Kit-chan," he whispered when he finally opened them.
Looking away from his truthful cerulean eyes, Kitsune blinked back tears of frustration.
"Fine. But only because you asked," she finally choked out as she rubbed her eyes, refusing to show weakness in front of others.
"Let's go," Shikamaru ordered as the boys ran past Kitsune.
Yet Naruto stayed back, still standing stone still, before jumping forward and embracing Kitsune for a second before he was off too.
She could have sworn he'd whispered, "I'll be back soon," but Kitsune wasn't too sure as she closed her eyes in pain, allowing the wind to play through her hair and refusing to hear the whimpers of Kota or the concerned greetings of Lee and Sakura.
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"Was it really wise to leave Kitsune behind? She had some skill, and we could have used more strength," Kiba said after a good hour of them leaping through the forest.
"It can't be helped. Except for Naruto, we don't know her too well and so we don't have a kinship. It was easier and safer for her to stay at the village and wait rather than participate," Shikamaru droned out, although he did feel a nagging that he might have just let her come along so that they could have an even more advantage in numbers.
Naruto was silent, trying to focus his thoughts on the speeding by branches and how he was going to convince Sasuke to come back to the village.
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Sighing, Kitsune plopped herself down on a park bench, the same one where she'd talked to Iruka and where Naruto had later picked her up. As she brought her knees up to her chest to hug, she wished that time could go back to those easy days where the worst she had to worry about was if they had enough jumpsuits to share.
"Kitsune?" a warm voice asked, which she could easily recognize as Kakashi's.
"Yes Kakashi-senpai?" she asked, not lifting her head from behind her legs.
"Are you alright?" he asked as she felt him sit next to her, causing the bench to lightly squeak in response.
"...Depends what you consider 'alright,'" she answered with a bitter chuckle that shook her frame. The silver haired teacher only hummed in recognition, not going any deeper with more words and questions.
"Why is everything so screwed up?" Kitsune finally broke the comfortable silence that had lasted a good ten minutes.
It was Kakashi's turn to chuckle as he leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.
"I think you'll get used to it."
"I hope so...even with all the different animals in the forest it was never as complicated as it is here. And they eat each other," Kitsune groaned as she finally lifted her head, yet kept her arms around her legs to hold them against her.
"So you grew up in the forest, correct?" Kakashi asked as his eye watched a few clouds pass by overhead.
"Yeah, I visited towns, where I learned how to talk, but I usually freaked them out so much that I was forcefully kicked out," she continued with a nostalgic expression. Even when she was kicked out with angry faces and felt depressed, this current pain that she felt in her chest that made her feel like she was being suffocated was much more intense and made those past memories mere trifles.
"Do you know where you came form Kitsune?" he asked in the most serious tone that Kitsune had ever heart him use.
"...No," she hesitated to answer.
He was silent as he stared out in front of him, as if his soul had left his body.
"You saw, didn't you?" she questioned as she hide her head in her knees again.
"Yeah."
"...Do you think I'm a freak?"
"...No."
"Are you scared?"
To this, he kept quiet a little longer before answering, "No. I'm scared for the village."
"What are you talking about?" Kitsune furrowed her eyebrows as she once again peaked out from the sanctuary of her body ball, "I'd never hurt anyone here. You've all been nothing but nice."
"It's not YOU that will hurt the village."
"You're making no sense Kakashi-senpai," Kitsune shot back, yet she couldn't stop her breath from hiking at this conversation.
He sighed, and kept quiet again until, "I shouldn't be telling you this. You should discover it yourself, which you eventually will."
Getting up from the bench, he stuck one hand in his pocket while his other brought out his loyal orange book.
"And I'll be wanting that book back," he called over his shoulder as he waved goodbye, not giving Kitsune a chance to demand he further explain what he knew, she didn't care how she learned about what was wrong with her just as long as she knew.
"Damn it all," she muttered under her breath as she stretched her legs out and crossed her arms over her small chest with a grumpy expression.
She stayed in that stiff position for a long period of hours, trying to think about how her life was turning in circles and going no where, before she saw a group of kids and the familiar face of Iruka who made his way over to her again.
"You didn't go?" he asked as he sat down in Kakashi's place.
"No. Shikamaru wouldn't let me," she snarled out, her canines biting her bottom lip in annoyance.
"Oh...but you did want to go, yes?" the brunette further questioned with warm brown eyes that started to calm Kitsune down.
"Of course. I'd do anything for Naruto's happiness."
There was a heavy pause before Iruka couldn't help but say, "Then why didn't you just ignore Shikamaru and go anyway?"
The reddish-golden haired teen blinked before slapping the palm of her hand into her forehead, alarming Iruka for a second.
"I should have just done that, but I promised Naruto that I'd stay here," she sighed as she took her hand away, revealing a red spot from the force.
"You know, sometimes people don't know what's best for them," Iruka started going into automatic teaching mode.
Kitsune blinked again.
"So you're saying...I should go anyway?"
"Yeah, cause th-...wait, NO! It's too dangerous now if you go by yourself!" he rebuked his previous statements, not realizing what he was cajoling Kitsune into thinking.
"Thanks Sensei, I'll buy you a bowl of ramen when I come back!" Kitsune said as she sat up, gave a salute, and bounded off.
"NO! I wasn't talking about that! I was talking about when he comes BACK! Then you can talk and help him!" But his yelling was in vain as she was already gone.
Sighing, he placed his head in his hands and muttered to himself about how he needed to stop sprouting advice or else this would just keep happening.
"Yo. Where's Kitsune?"
Looking up to a curious Kakashi, Iruka groaned.
"I accidentally told her to go after Naruto."
Kakashi's visible eye widened before he sighed beneath his mask himself.
"It's not your fault, she's just as stubborn and strongheaded as Naruto," the silver haired fellow teacher tried to comfort as he sat down next to Iruka where Kitsune had been.
"Yeah, some teacher I am," Iruka sighed as he looked out at the playing kids of his class, but couldn't stop a smile from gracing his handsome face as he saw a young girl give a boy classmate a flower.
"You know, I think you should change you teaching material," Kakashi remarked.
"Hn?" Iruka hummed in curiosity, showing that Kakashi had caught his attention, his eyes looking from the blushing girl to the masked face of Kakashi.
"You should teach this!" the experienced jounin said as he put his Icha Icha Paradise book in the younger teacher's face, causing Iruka to blanch.
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END OF EPISODE 12!
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Preview For:
Episode 13 : Who Knew
Kitsune could only pitifully whimper as he watched Naruto getting punched in the stomach, the force throwing him into a wall of stone which crumbled around him from the impact. As she further watched Sasuke advance on his once friend, Kitsune wished more then ever that she could help...
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