An Unlikely Romance
by Rizember
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Beta'ed by: [UnBeta'ed]
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Disclaimer: yaddee yadda...I own nadda...
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Summary: Naruto has awoken as a fox and has no recollection of being human… He's found by Sasuke who decided to take him in. In the meantime, everyone's looking for the human Naruto… SasuNaru
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Chapter 12: An Unlikely Confrontation
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Warning: This chapter sucks. There is angst present. Also, I would like to point out that at this moment I am talking on the phone, typing this up, watching my roommate play NFS and replying to reviews. I call it multi-tasking…
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The road to hell is wide.
And so is the road to Konoha.
The likeness wasn't lost on me.
The retrieval team was tired; having a full out battle with trained assassins could do that, I supposed but I wasn't tired at all. Just really, really annoyed.
I could feel the tails swishing behind me and grew irritable as I realized that I wasn't going to curb my need to chase them for much longer. In the light, I could see that they were a rich gold colour.
Goodness knows the others would have a field day making dog jokes even though they knew good and well these are fox tails.
My only consolation was that Sasuke was looking equally frustrated. His single black tail was twitching uncomfortably.
Kyuubi, that asshole, just looked smug.
After leaving the Root hideaway with Sai tied up (the guy still had to have his uses), we made our way toward Konoha fairly easily, all things considered. I wasn't quite getting used to my tails, especially with the way Sakura and Hinata kept blushing when I caught them staring and the way Sasuke was glaring at me like I was the one that had somehow glued a tail to his ass.
Kyuubi seemed unperturbed by the fact that Sasuke and I had somehow shared off his remaining tails. Hell, he seemed almost pleased to have them off his hands- er, butt.
Neji and Kiba kept glancing at Kyuubi warily; almost as if they were sure the giant black fox would rampage the second we got to Konoha. Not that I was sure he wouldn't.
Akamaru was keeping a safe distance away but threw sporadic growls every now and then, which Kyuubi promptly ignored.
As we neared the gates, Shikamaru came up with his plan for why we were bringing a giant fox into Konoha. People wouldn't really be all that happy about him, not after the whole 'foxes are evil tenacious bastards and must die' thing they've had going on for years as they gave me their variations of the Uchiha glare for harbouring Kyuubi. They'd been many occasions I figured I'd just let the damn fox free and tell them that they should try being his vessel. I doubted Tsunade would be too happy about that, though.
She never did tell me what exactly happened the night of my birth. All she said was that the demon was sealed in me and I was a hero. Hoo-bloody-ray. I'd have been happy being a commoner if that was the way Konoha treated their heroes.
Oh, but Konoha is faithful to the heroes they love. Like Sasuke.
It was almost like the bastard had never abandoned his village.
Which was why Shikamaru knew his plan would work. If it could even be called a plan…
The guards at the gate stared at us and then at the Kyuubi, in disbelief.
Hell, I was pretty blown away myself.
Kyuubi was resting on Sasuke's head, roughly the same size as a small puppy, the way Kiba and Akamaru had been all those years ago.
The funny thing was, Sasuke looked pissed and Kyuubi looked cute.
I couldn't help the laugh that escaped and left it to someone who really gave a damn to figure out how the hell Kyuubi had gone from a flaming black behemoth to a little fox kit. And exactly when he'd climbed up onto Sasuke's hair.
The guards cleared their throats and looked at Sasuke.
"Are you sure he's a summons?"
Sasuke scowled at them. "Do you think I'd let a rabid forest animal on my head?"
They looked like they might say yes.
"Can she talk?" one asked, moving closer to peer at Kyuubi who was glaring at him.
Sasuke sighed as Kyuubi snorted indignantly. "I am male, you asinine buffoon."
Well, the sheer lack of respect and awesome show of bastardry that was Kyuubi definitely made the guards believe us. No one but an Uchiha would have such an offensive tosser as a summons. And all we had to say was that a jutsu had gone wrong and Kyuubi was unable to return to his world. Also, and understand the irony is bloody hilarious; we had to call Kyuubi 'Kit'.
You'd think they'd be abit more wary of foxes after the whole Kyuubi thing. I mean, they treated me like crap for most of my life because of the damn fox but no, when it comes to the real, fluffy bastards, they coo at them and let them into their village. Assholes.
Neji and Shikamaru went to report in while the rest of us waited at the bottom of the Hokage tower to wait. No point in all of us rushing in and explaining how I'd saved the day with pure awesomeness. That just wouldn't be right.
They were told that Lady of the Boob wasn't in so we all headed toward the nearest hotel. It wasn't like we could get to the Uchiha complex without incident, given the way stuff seemed to be happening lately so the group (Sakura) discussed the matter with everyone ( Hinata) and decided that we (Sasuke, Kyuubi and I) would stay in a hotel until further notice (i.e., until they said otherwise).
We checked in, feeling awfully like children because we were told to be quiet, sit still and behave. Kiba was 'inspecting' the fridge, Neji was 'making sure the bathroom standards are up to par' and Hinata was lounging, not feeling the need to give herself an excuse. Shikamaru had gone home, saying something about the pressing need to fluff his pillows.
Sai, still tied up, was watching us with curiosity while Kyuubi decided to play 'poke the Uchiha's tail with one of my own'. This day could not have gotten any weirder.
Until Tsunade came in.
With a friend.
A friend that Sasuke tried to greet with a kutsaragi to the throat right before he was held down by her royal Boobliness.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me."
And so, with that, Sasuke was being restrained.
By the Hokage.
It would have been really fun to watch, maybe grab some popcorn and even get a date if it wasn't for the fact that I was the only other person standing between Sasuke, Tsunade and the object of Sasuke's super-hero-worthy killing intent. Everyone else was standing a safe distance away like the brave little ninjas they were.
"Itachi," I sighed irritably, glaring at the older Uchiha who was currently standing in the doorway, smirking pleasantly. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Itachi came in and shut the door, mumbling something about Jinchuuriki lacking manners…
The bastard.
He sat on the couch and I wondered why no one was freaking out.
I mean, I knew why I wasn't freaking out. Itachi wasn't a threat. To me, I think.
After my return from stopping Sasuke from killing Itachi, I hadn't seen the long haired bastard.
I had made Sasuke listen to Itachi tell him all about Madara, Danzou, the council and the Kyuubi. I also added in bits and pieces my research had picked up. And Sasuke, overwhelmed by the whole thing had still made a last ditch attempt at killing Itachi. Which I thwarted, with my awesomeness. It took quite a while for it to sink into the obsessive-murderous idiot's thick skull but he'd finally seen reason, even though I had kinda sorta beaten the reason into him.
Itachi had made sure we were okay, even going as far as walking and carrying a passed out Baby Uchiha almost all the way to Konoha before leaving.
After Sasuke had gone about assassinating the main members of the old council who were responsible for ordering the Uchiha massacre, Boobilicious was more than happy to write off both Sasuke and Itachi as village heroes and even let them have their own holiday - named after them both, to share of course. We agreed with the first bit but the second was ridiculous. Sasuke and Itachi didn't like to share.
Itachi stayed in touch with the BoobLord, as I recall, but he never really got down to keeping in touch with the Littlest Bastard.
"It's nice to see you all," Itachi said pleasantly.
Sakura, Kiba and Neji all chose that moment to walk in- Neji in a bathrobe- and stare.
I sat in the seat next to Itachi's, by Hinata, while Tsunade seemed to be doing a good job of suffocating Sasuke with her boobs. Or maybe she just wanted him. There had to be something to the whole "being friends with Jiraiya" thing… And she had been friends with Orochimaru. Maybe they were all paedophiles.
Anyway, with LordOfTheBoobs successfully incapacitating an angry Sasuke, Itachi calmly sat down and stared at my butt.
Yes.
He stared.
At my butt.
That perverted sonovabitch.
Oh, he is so not getting his own holiday. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat even as I tried to get my tails to stop swishing.
Abruptly, he turned. "Hello Kyuubi."
The black fox was lying on the carpet beside our couch and looked up, not looking particularly interested in the man.
"Itachi," he nodded before putting his head back down and going back to sleep.
Sasuke was still yelling- with his yells being muffled by the Tsunade hills- so I growled angrily.
"Shut up already Sasuke," I said irritably. "Why are you so mad, anyway" I thought you got over your must-kill-Itachi phase."
Sasuke glared at me and Tsunade edged him slightly away from her boobs but if push came to shove, he'd be right back in there, nuzzling unwillingly.
"It's sibling rivalry," Sasuke said in a monotone.
"You still want to kill me?" Itachi asked, curious.
"Do you know how to hold a pen, Itachi?" Sasuke asked coldly.
Itachi shrugged. "With which body part?"
I noticed Hinata and Sakura blush at that but I wasn't completely sure why… I mean, what the hell else could they think he'd hold a pen with?
"Ah, so I assume you can write, Itachi?"
Itachi seemed amused by that. "Did you want me to write to you, Sasuke?"
Little Uchiha swore at him. "No, you asshole. I wanted you to stay out of my life, like you've done such an amazing job of so far."
"I can't do that."
"Why the hell not?"
"I missed you."
I choked and Hinata smacked by back none-too-gently.
I glared at her and she ignored me. Gosh, I miss the days when she was a stuttering love-struck mess. Ah yes, those were the days.
I had noticed that everyone was watching the scene like it was some sort of Spanish novella.
"When did you get a tail?"
Sasuke looked like he was seriously considering killing Tsunade to get to his brother but the HunchBoob of Notre Dame abruptly let him loose.
"Itachi was at Danzou's Root HQ today," she said clearly, raising a hand to stop Sasuke from trying to murder Itachi immediately.
Sasuke's eyes widened and he stared at his asshole of a brother.
"And you didn't do a damn thing to help?"
Itachi chuckled and it was pleasant. "Well, you guys were doing so well on your own…"
"He helped," Sakura interrupted, hoping to avoid more misunderstandings between the two brothers given their history.
Sasuke, Kyuubi, Sai and me all turned to her.
She shifted uncomfortably, I noticed, as did the others.
"Itachi was the one who caused the earthquake," Sakura said.
"Are you sure?" I started, confused. "He's not an earth jutsu user. I thought that was you."
"Well…"
"What?"
"Sakura doesn't like to get dirt on her," Sai said with a smile.
Sakura blushed and I blinked.
"You're kidding."
Before she could defend her girlie sense of the ickiness of dirt, Itachi cleared his throat. "Er, I can actually use three elements Naruto," he said petulantly. "Earth, fire and water."
We all spoke at once.
"Cool."
"That's a strange combination."
"Not bad."
"I am almost impressed, Uchiha."
"Eh."
"Show-off."
"So? I could level mountains with a swish of my tail. You don't see me waxing poetic about it."
We turned curious 'WTF' glances to Kyuubi but he just huffed. "What? I don't."
Muttering to herself, the BoobFather coughed and got our attention.
"Itachi is here to report in and will be getting a new assignment soon. I hope you'll all be mature enough to be civil and not damage any property-" She shot glares at both me and Sasuke. "- or else I'll have you assassinated."
Sasuke glared at Itachi, shooting him the darkest look I have ever seen him give before walking off into the bedroom and shutting the door.
When he was gone, I turned to Itachi. "Why did you come here?"
He looked at me like that was the stupidest question he had ever heard and said, "To make sure Sasuke was okay."
He wasn't telling me everything. The fool was obviously keeping something back and I had no way of telling exactly what it was. But if the way his eyes kept following my tails was a clue, he was out for some ass.
"MY BOOTY IS MINE! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!"
Okay…apparently I yelled that out loud…
Maybe I'm an earth user too and the ground will open up and swallow me…
"Er…that was…Kit," I said, blushing furiously.
They looked doubtful and Itachi looked curious. Ah, screw him.
"Stop staring at me," I hissed.
He smiled slowly and I glared into his dark eyes. Stupid pretty boy.
"Why are you really here?" I heard Neji ask.
Itachi never tore his gaze from me as he replied.
"That's no business of yours Hyuuga. I'll be gone soon enough. I just came here to make sure Sasuke was alright."
"And now that you've seen he's not?"
Itachi sighed and stood. "I expected his reaction but did not account for the other nuances present here," He stated dryly to Tsunade. "I'll be off on my next assignment."
Tsunade sighed. Apparently this was not the emotional Uchiha reunion she had expected.
Itachi left and Tsunade watched us silently before clearing her throat.
"I want everyone here who is not an Uchiha or an Uzumaki or a demon fox, gone in twenty minutes. You all have homes and will not run up my bills by living here and ordering room service. Your lives are not in danger. You will be assigned guard posts with my personal ANBU units to protect and watch these two but other than that, no one but these three will be staying here. Do you understand?"
They all nodded grudgingly while I growled in discontent.
Tsunade smirked, seeing that I had caught on fairly quick.
"Yes Naruto. You are under house arrest."
(I am a magic perverted page break. Abraca-hoochie-momma-dabra)
If I had thought Sasuke was a pain in the ass before, well, I was pretty sure of it now.
I was also sure that somewhere up in the sky, the gods were doing shots and making bets to see who could torture me the most. The bastards.
I almost wished I was back at the Uchiha compound, playing the role of the amazingly intelligent and wonderfully sexy pet, Kit. What I wouldn't give for a time travel jutsu…
Sasuke, Kyuubi and me had been living together at the Konoha hotel for almost three weeks. Three of the longest weeks of my life.
It was hell.
The day of our 'house' arrest, Tsunade had left and gone to call an emergency meeting with the council that did not go well.
She had been unable to place the blame on Danzou or even implicate him in any traitorous Root actions as we technically had no proof. There was also the fact that Danzou was a member of the council and had its support. Also, he was a right bastard about it and questioned reports of the Uchiha having a fox summons when the Uchiha clan clearly used ninja cats. I remember snorting at that.
Cats were hardly menacing and also, 'the Uchiha clan' had been reduced to Sasuke and Itachi so they could very well call any summon they damn well pleased.
Danzou questioned Tsunade's authority as well as her request to keep our location hidden, claiming she was making a bid at keeping the Kyuubi vessel under her power and turning against Konoha.
I had to admit, the asshole had a way with words and those old farts on the council were more than willing to listen to a fellow fart.
Unfortunately, that meant we still couldn't leave until Tsunade gave us the go-ahead.
There wasn't much I could do about it really, but having both Kyuubi and Sasuke as roommates was not something I wanted. They were both easily the most frustrating, narcissistic, arrogant bastards in the league of assholes (formerly headed by Orochimaru, now taken over by Danzou) and they were driving me nuts.
Kyuubi was always going around changing shape, eating all the cookies and saying how gay Sasuke and I were. He also refused to eat ramen, which I totally did not complain about- at first, cause hey, more for me- but then he had the balls to suggest suspicion would arise if I kept ordering ramen and well, Tsunade had said he had a point.
Sasuke was being impossible, telling me all the wrong ways I go about being a ninja even though he hasn't really seen me fight much since he got back and so most of his pointers are about me not charging in head first to an army of seasoned, powerful ninjas by simply yelling nonsense about friendship and being Hokage before I attack. I swear he wasn't such a prick before.
But he's constant reminders of what he thinks I should change just remind me of how much I actually have changed. If he'd actually slow down enough to ask someone, he'd know I'm not as brash, loud or impulsive as I used to be. Except, when I'm with him, I seem to revert to the idiot I once was.
There's also the thing about being Hokage.
I'm under no illusion that that is achievable by any means. Between the council and the few villagers who still hate me, there's no way I could get to become Hokage, no matter how many enemies I kill for Konoha or how highly ranked I get. Which is proven by the very fact that I'm still a genin. The strange thing though is that I'm not as affected as I should be. I've passed the chuunin exams countless times but every time, the council just denies my promotion and everyone else moves higher. That doesn't stop them from sending me out on Anbu and S-class worthy missions, declaring them as D or C ranked missions so they can't be questioned on my reports.
Sometimes I imagine that leaving would be easier, that in another place I would be better acknowledged for my power and who I am rather than what my Jinchuuriki status implies. Seeing Gaara beat the odds had proved to me that his people are much more trusting than mine. He had been a sadistic murderer after all and now look at him.
If I left, I could prove I was better than any ninjas and obstacles that came my way. I had trained and trained, studied and experimented and all my hard work had brought Sasuke back- an S-class Nin in his own right. I was at or above that and somehow, the hum of power pleased me. But I knew that if I left, I wouldn't come back. I would have been like Sasuke- except for the whole brother thing. Konoha is my home though…and I've never known another.
"Dozing off?" Kyuubi asked mockingly from the couch.
I had noticed him come in but decided to try ignore him and get back to what I'd been doing before I zoned out- banging on the bathroom door.
"Sasuke, get out here!"
I heard a snort from inside and growled. Hell, I was absolutely gorgeous but even I didn't spend three flippin' hours in the bathroom primping and preening.
"What the hell are you even doing in there?" I screamed, banging hard on the door.
"Grooming," came the calm reply. "Not all of us go for the dirty, unkempt hobo look."
"That's cause you couldn't pull it off," I yelled. "Now get out!"
"Hn."
"Sasuke!"
"I'm just making myself look presentable," he answered.
"For who? We're under house arrest!"
"I may decide to stand by a window."
Barely taking time to think about my actions, I formed a rasengan and slammed it against the door. Granted, that may have been abit much considering I could have easily kicked it open but the frustration was getting to me.
In a bad way, too, I promptly realised as I came face to face with a very wet Uchiha.
Sasuke had been standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around his waist, fixing his hair. He was now looking at the shattered and splintered wood before he turned and raised an eyebrow at me.
I couldn't move.
My mouth felt like sandpaper and I tried, in vain, to swallow the dust that was my saliva.
Droplets of water were trailing down pale white skin and the steam hanging in the air didn't at all help at whatever drying he may have tried to perform. His body was lean and sleek, perfect for the quick calculated movements Anbu assassinations required and well-toned, with muscle in all the right places. I could see why so many people were after his pale ass. He was hot.
"Naruto?"
His voice carried amusement and jarred me from my revelation even as I calmly faced him, knowing my face betrayed no emotion but my previous irritation.
"You're naked," I said, my voice sounding accusing.
He rolled his eyes at me. "I'm in a towel."
I snorted. That fluffy belt he was wearing could barely pass as a towel. The hotel couldn't possibly be that frugal.
"Why did you attack the door?" he asked with a smirk, his voice oozing sarcasm. "Is it your latest enemy or did you just want to see me naked? Really Naruto, all you had to do was ask."
Now, far be it from me to step up to such a gay challenge and far be it from me to rise to such weak bait but hell, I'd been challenged and I took the bait.
I punched him and pretty soon we were scrambling over splinters and tiled flooring, biting, scratching and throwing punches in between in what was so obviously an inelegant brawl with absolutely no finesse or coordination.
But I didn't care whether or not I looked bad as I threw a punch at his face. All I cared about was the bruise he would undoubtedly get once I was done. He was probably leaving my body a few presents of his own but it didn't matter. It was a miracle his towel was still in place somehow.
I'd had to deal with three weeks of his stupid sharingan wielding ass walking through the place in nothing but boxers, swishing his idiot ass around and making jokes about me watching him. Which I was not.
Most of the time, Sakura and Hinata were around to stop me from killing him as they ran blood tests and chakra experiments on us. Kyuubi however, wouldn't interfere as long as we didn't try to kill each other for the simple fact that he was a bastard like that and he wouldn't let us die without knowing whether or not that would affect him, too.
I don't recall how everything started but when we'd been left alone in the hotel suite, after Itachi and everyone else had all left, Sasuke had asked me if I'd enjoyed being his pet, stating the many situations we'd found ourselves in when I'd been Kit. I found myself blushing irritably at his moronic jabs but I couldn't help it. It was like he was mad at me for having been turned into a fox and seeing him at his most vulnerable moments. Like I was the one who told him that foxes were the ninja equivalent to Doctor Phil…
He had even gone as far as to suggest that he should move around naked before I calmly told him I'd provoke a chidori out of him, throw him in the bath and watch his sorry as fry. Besides, it wasn't like he'd never seen me naked! I remember the time I'd reverted back to myself and he'd seen me, uh…dangling, but I wasn't going around waving molestation papers! Hell, I could charge him with both molestation and bestiality considering the way he loved to cuddle when I was Kit.
I finally edged away from him, muttering petulantly, "Gosh, you're almost as bad as Itachi."
I'd sparred with Itachi on occasions when he was in the village and the guy was resolute in his belief that he had to hospitalize me for the training session to have proved worthwhile.
An unexpected fist flew my way and dug hard into my side.
As another fist met my cheek, I winced and grabbed Sasuke's arms, holding them away from me as he shouted, "Chido-!" I punched his jaw hard with my free hand and he grunted and tried to throw me off. This was beyond normal. We fought, yeah, but we never used jutsus. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger and he growled at me. Tch.
"What's wrong with you?" he countered childishly, which reminded me that I had punched him first.
It occurred to me that while that was true, Sasuke had provoked me. He had known I was at my breaking point, having been stuck in here for almost a month and had set about irritating the hell out of me. I had no doubt that I could survive his chidori, given my training had involved a lot of it hitting me, courtesy of a blackmailed Kakashi, so I could build up some sort of resistance to it when I'd been on my mission to get Sasuke back.
"No shit. But other than that, what did I do?" I asked, striving to be calm. This was retarded.
He just tried to throw me off again.
"Sasuke!" I tried again. "Talk to me. I-"
"I trusted you!" he snapped.
"What?" I blinked. "Is this about the Kit thing again? I thought I already explained-"
He took advantage of my momentary surprise to throw me off and kick me viciously. My leg stung and I backed away, eyeing him irascibly.
"I didn't turn into a fucking fox on purpose!"
He didn't seem convinced. "You watched," he hissed. "You watched as I talked about everything! You watched me fall apart over you! You read my journal!"
Okay…so he's mad about his diary?
That's such a girly thing to be mad about.
"Sasuke-"
A hit connected to my gut and I doubled over, quickly backing away further into the bathroom and forming clones to slow down his assault. He glared at me as he struck them down.
"Did you enjoy it?"
I frowned, straightening up when he finally reached me. "What?"
"Did you laugh?" he smiled coldly. "Poor Sasuke…"
Shit. I recognised his hand movements and jumped out of the way of his fireball.
"Stupid, obsessed, unhappy Sasuke…"
Damn, he's really pissed.
"Foolish Sasuke, trying to kill his innocent brother…"
Okay, so it wasn't just the diary he was mad about. I blocked as he attacked me again and again. I felt like he needed to get this out of his system. All the confusion and frustration and helplessness he must have felt when I'd stopped him from killing Itachi…all the anger at the council members he'd killed…all the resentment at me for being involved…
His fury at having cared for me at all…
I grew tired of fighting in the enclosed space, even though there was momentary relief that at least nothing seemed to have caught fire from Sasuke's fireball. We were still in the relatively large bathroom after all.
"It's what you thought, wasn't it?" he asked frostily.
"I never thought any less of you," I offered, even as he continued to attack.
"Don't lie."
I could taste the familiar coppery flavour of my blood after a sharp blow to the head had me falling backward. I'd long since stopped my own attacks, deciding to just try block his.
"I never laughed," I insisted.
"You let me make a fool of myself."
I admit, it kinda creeped me out the way he didn't raise his voice, the way he stated the nonsense he thought as if it were the truth.
I tried again. "You were never-"
"You read my most private thoughts-"
Punch. Block. Kick.
"- and amused yourself with my failures."
"I didn't-"
"You pitied me."
"Sasuke-"
"I hate you."
The words, more than the punch to my gut, had me frozen before I fell to the tiled floor.
He quickly straddled me and punched and punched and punched.
And I let him.
I felt his pain but even more than the fact that he thought I'd ever enjoy watching him suffer, even more than the fact that he thought I was that horrible a person…was the fact that I had my own pain now.
He hated me.
It hurt.
He was the one I ran after for all those years. He was the one I was willing to risk my life for. He was the one I had formed my first bond with.
He was my best friend.
And he hated me.
I looked up at him emptily as the pain mingled with the hurt.
He froze, his fist stopping mid-air.
He looked confused for a moment, like he wasn't sure why I wasn't fighting back.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
I didn't hear him, not really anyway. I just wanted him to keep hitting me; I didn't want the pain to end. It was strange because in that moment, if he killed me, I would have been glad. I welcomed death. I wanted him to kill me, cause if he hated me, it was all the same if I were.
"Hit me."
"What?" he asked, lowering his fist.
My whole body hurt.
"Hit me…" I smiled ruefully. "Don't stop till your hate is gone. It won't be enough but maybe one day… Maybe one day it will."
He looked really confused now.
"I can take it. Hit me."
"Naruto-"
"If you hate me, just go ahead and hit me."
He said nothing.
"Please." I shut my eyes, thinking maybe he would do it then. Maybe my constant staring while he thrashed me was unnerving. Goodness forbid he should be unnerved while he beats the crap out of me.
The same phrase kept running through my head, dead and heavy. Sasuke hates me.
Sasuke hates me. Just like the number of villagers who still hold me accountable for Kyuubi's actions all those years ago.
He was just like them.
Foolish of me really, I thought brokenly, to have believed I had a best friend in him. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried to kill me quite a few times already to break the bond and show me just how little I meant to him.
I was an idiot, just like he'd always said.
I felt Sasuke's weight move off me in an instant and opened my eyes to find warm brown eyes staring at me.
"Kyuubi?"
It was a great shame to me that my voice cracked alittle.
The fox didn't speak. He simply drew me close to him and carried me to my room. Once he laid me on my bed, I felt him press one of his tails to my forehead and push a small amount of chakra in. It calmed me and I fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
(I am a funny page break. Laugh damn you)
Kyuubi had learned many things in his life as a hulking, terrifying beast.
He had learned that humans were complex and irrational beings that really had no place in the universe except to disrupt the lives of worthwhile existences much like his own.
In the centuries he had roamed the world, he had discovered two other important things.
Uchihas were unrepentant and had a section of their brain that actively prevented apologies from forming.
He'd intervened in the two idiot's fight because Sasuke was hurting Naruto- not physically- well, okay yeah, physically too but mostly, he was hurting him in ways Kyuubi had fought to prevent the blond from being hurt.
During his imprisonment in Naruto, Kyuubi had formed an unlikely bond with the blond kid and had tried time and time again to put him down because it was just so easy. But then, Naruto had never had anyone to defend him- and there was definitely no way he could defend himself from a demon he was holding.
Watching the villagers ignore him and give him wary, angry glances, Naruto had known that he was bad. It was the only thing that had made sense to him. He must have been a bad child because no one wanted him. Everyone he knew had a family but all he had was the occasional visit from the Hokage and his landlord, the latter being a miserable old lady who never stayed too long and always threatened to throw him out if he kept being so noisy- even though no one else lived in his building.
Kyuubi had been disgusted with the way the villagers treated Naruto. He could understand his need to hate the boy because he was trapped inside him but they had been saved by him, no matter how unknowingly, and they chose to disregard that and treat him like he was Kyuubi himself.
Naruto spent his eighth birthday watching the festival that Konoha celebrated to signify the defeat of Kyuubi.
He sat in the dirt on top of the Hokage mountains and drew a cake in the dirt with eight candles. He'd seen that families did that for each other.
That was the day Kyuubi decided to give Naruto a break. If he had no one else to stand up for him, he'd at least learn to stand up for himself.
And so, Kyuubi had started to talk to Naruto, grudgingly at first but then, the boy seemed to be surprisingly bright, picking up on things Kyuubi would never have suspected he'd learn fast.
But he'd been forced to be slower when he'd told the Third that he wanted to be a ninja and joined the academy. People hadn't been happy about that but Kyuubi knew they were probably hoping he'd either be useful in battle or die in battle- either way would have been a blessing to them.
So he'd instructed Naruto on how to act but the silly child had ignored him and decided to become loud, obnoxious and declaring friendship and his dream to be Hokage. While Kyuubi approved of his aspirations to power, the way he went about it wasn't at all appealing.
Then Naruto had ordered him to give him power- ordered him, the most powerful tailed beast in the land, to give him power cause he was his vessel.
Kyuubi had been both miffed and impressed but from then on, their conversations had changed. They argued more and traded insults but it was without malice. To Naruto, Kyuubi was as good as family.
And when the Uchiha had sprung up and made Naruto want his acknowledgement, Kyuubi might have been just a tad bit jealous of the bond they were forming even though they were both imbeciles about the whole thing.
And now, Kyuubi slammed Sasuke into the wall, now the Uchiha seemed to have conveniently forgotten the hell Naruto had gone through all for him. He'd thrown Sasuke off Naruto when it was obvious the blond had decided not to defend himself.
"You hurt him."
Sasuke instantly looked angry. "He-"
"He has been nothing but good to you. And yet, you always hurt him."
Sasuke was silent. He'd never seen Kyuubi lose his cool even once those past three weeks- not even when Lee had tried to cuddle him.
"That boy trusted you and you just went and treated him like trash. I expected more from you."
Sasuke blinked. "What about you?"
Kyuubi turned hard brown eyes on him and he glared hard.
"You knew what had happened to him to turn him into a fox but you came he and pretended to be him," Sasuke accused.
Kyuubi snorted. "Like he'd expect any less from me," he grinned sadistically. "Unlike you Uchiha, in case you hadn't noticed, I came back for him."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "If-"
"Why else would I have bothered returning here, following him all the way to your bloody compound? Why would I have provoked him to know I was an imposter? Why would I have stayed when I was perfectly capable of escaping and living my own life, free of him?"
"Because you'd have been without your power."
Kyuubi laughed dryly. "I still had enough power to level this village and take over few others. You underestimate Naruto. His body, his innate power, do not complement mine. That should tell you a lot about us. Even separate from me, his capable of much more than you give him credit for and for the life of me, I cannot understand why he bothers with Konoha."
Sasuke eyed him warily. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you should watch your back. I'm saying that I'd kill you in a heartbeat if it wasn't for Naruto. I'm saying I don't like you."
Sasuke felt a sharp pain run down his back as Kyuubi pressed him further into the wall with his paws.
"If you hurt him again, I'll see to it that it will be the last time."
With that, Kyuubi let Sasuke loose and walked away.
He had things to do.
(I am a foxy page break. Rawr)
When I woke up, I felt calm and nothing like the wreck I'd been before.
I supposed I had Kyuubi to thank for that.
I stretched and looked around, making sure I was alone before I stroked my tails and rubbed my face into them. They really were cute.
I sighed and decided to face the music.
Technically, we were all still under house arrest so I'd have to face Sasuke sometime.
I stalked into our makeshift kitchen area- cause Tsunade was serious about room service- and saw a bowl of ramen sitting on the table.
I rushed forward and saw a slip of paper right next to it.
'Enjoy, idiot'.
I smiled.
Far be it from Sasuke to apologise like a normal person- my smile faded- but that didn't change anything.
Kyuubi wasn't around but I figured they must have both just been in their rooms. There was nowhere else they could be.
"Naruto!"
I looked up. "Oh, Kyuu, wha-"
The ground shook and I threw myself to the ground, pulling out a kunai from my ever-present hoister.
Kyuubi rushed forward and pushed me out of the way as a part of the ceiling fell where I'd been crouched.
What the hell was going on?
I stilled. "Where's Sasuke?"
Kyuubi didn't answer. He just dragged me out of the room and threw me into the lounge. Abruptly, the tremors stopped and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"What's going on?"
He growled low in his throat and nodded to the wall.
There was writing on it. In what looked like blood.
"Come to the torture division, demon," I read. "I have Sasuke."
I ran to a window and jumped out, sure that Kyuubi was following.
"Who is it?" I asked, as we moved.
"Danzou..."
"How did he get in? Why did he take Sasuke? What is he-"
"Calm down."
For once, I listened to Kyuubi. I had to be calm about this; otherwise I doubted either Sasuke or me would get out alive and unbonded to the old guy.
And he would have us in the torture division.
I made clones and sent them to Tsunade, Kakashi and Sakura, praying they'd get to them in time. If I failed to get Sasuke out, I had no doubt Danzou would use his status as a council member to convince them that Sasuke's death had been necessary or that I had killed him and then myself in an insane demon moment.
I shivered as pushed faster.
I would save Sasuke. I had to.
Cause even if he hated me, I couldn't imagine him not being here. I couldn't live in a world where he didn't exist.
Strangling all formations of the L-word that weren't to do with lesbians, I landed in front of the Konoha Torture Division building, near the edge of the village.
Danzou was waiting.
He bowed.
"Naruto, Kyuubi… Welcome."
We ignored his pleasantries.
"Where's Sasuke?" I asked, voice hard.
He smiled and then, it wavered as he felt my killing intent.
Someone here was going to have to die.
I hoped he knew that.
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A/N: Oh, look at that, I added angst. Dammit, I'm so sorry.
Anyway, two more chapters and this story will be done. That is, the next chapter and an epilogue. Also, I feel the need to warn you that there is a sequel. No, it will not be like the Jurassic park sequels which really, were kind of pointless.
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Sasuke's tail is glaring at you right now. Yeah, I guess I may have run out of humour *cries* I'm so SORRYYYYYY! Cube-y sounds like Kyuubi huh? Wait, yes, it does! Cool.
Now, obviously he knows the Boobintosh because it is a well known brand of computer bosom.
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