The smell alone of this place was almost unbearable! It was what roused Kyuubi from his slumber. "Urm... What happened?" His legs still a bit wobbly, Kyuubi stood up and looked around. They were in a large hall. At least, it looked like a hall. The walls were red and fleshy. The water here was stickier than normal and there was, of course, the smell.

"Hm..?" Sakura shook herself awake and flew next to Kyuubi. "Oh no! Lord Jabu-Jabun ate us!" Kyuubi gasped in horror,

"What?! So this isn't a cave?!" Sakura shook herself,

"No... This is... Lord Jabu-Jabun's throat." Kyuubi groaned softly and looked in front of him as he took a few careful steps forward. There were also two, giant bubbles bouncing around. They made Kyuubi giggle but before he could even ask about them, two octorocks appeared and shot at the two.

Kyuubi dodged one but got nicked in the shoulder by one of the rocks. "Okay. That hurt." The small demon brought out his shield charm and sighed before activating it. The next time the octorocks shot, the attack was reflected back towards them and they disappeared in little puffs of smoke. Once they were gone, Kyuubi waded across the sticky water and over to the opposite side. After waiting for the bubbles to bounce away, Kyuubi saw that the door here was covered by a sticky web-like substance.

"We can't get through yet..." Sakura observed but she flew up and about before she bumped into something large and pink. "Ah! What is..?" She looked at it and groaned, "Ugh... Lord Jabu-Jabun's tonsils?" Kyuubi shook his head at Sakura's distress but noticed something. Whenever Sakura would brush up against the flesh, the web would shrink.

"Sakura-san! Stay there, okay?" Sakura agreed and Kyuubi brought out his slingshot and aimed at the tonsils.

"Kyuubi, wait!" The small demon shot and there was a groan before the webbing disappeared. "Oh." Sakura began, "Well, that was a positive reaction." Kyuubi opened the door and walked into a room that seemed to be made of pink and white marble even though it was just more muscle, flesh, and bone. There was a floating platform above a round pit and also there was something that looked like blue, floating jelly with legs.

"It's... kind of cute." Kyuubi commented. But when the cute jelly began floating towards them and shining with electricity, Kyuubi gulped and ran towards the next door before going in.

The next room proved to be almost worse than the last. The floor and walls quaked and quivered and it was slimy, sticky, and... "Ugh!" Kyuubi lifted up one of his feet, seeing all the red, goopy blood that now covered it. And, there were electric jellies here too; some bigger than others. "Poor Lord Jabu-Jabun..." Kyuubi frowned, "Having all these things in him must hurt." Abruptly,

"Get out of here!" a deep voice roared. Kyuubi and Sakura turned towards the origin of the noise and saw a demon male fighting the jellies. He seemed to be blue from head to toe, his hair navy, spiky and unruly. His large muscles flexed with every movement that he made, despite the cloak that covered his shoulders. One of the larger jellies rushed towards the male. He smirked before lifting up the large sword and slicing the jelly in two.

"Wow..." Kyuubi was in awe. Such a strong, powerful demon! "He's amazing!" The male's pointed ears twitched before he turned towards Kyuubi and Sakura, showing striking black eyes and gill-like marks under his eyes. The demon frowned before calling over,

"Hey! Who do you think you are?!" Kyuubi gulped nervously; anger was pouring off of the blue demon in waves.

"Um, can I ask you the same question?" The demon rolled his eyes before stating,

"I am Sanbi No Same, the three-tailed shark, and god of waters and storms." Kyuubi gasped again,

"So you're a god. That explains it. But wait! Queen Mizuya has been looking for you!" A look of sheer disgust and shock passed over Sanbi's face before he choked out and yelled,

"WHAT?! No, no, no, no!! Queen Mizuya does not know about me being down here!!" Kyuubi whimpered,

"Um, well..."

"NO!!" Sanbi roared, walking over to Kyuubi, "I don't believe this! How did you find out about me being down here anyway?!" Kyuubi answered,

"I found the letter that you had written." Sanbi sighed,

"My letter?! Grr... I specifically asked for whoever got that letter not to tell Queen Mizuya! And-- Wait a minute." He raised an eyebrow, "How did you hear about me again?"

"I found your letter and..." Sanbi held up a hand and shook his head.

"No... No, no, no!!" He actually took a few steps away, laughing incredulously for a second before yelling, "What the hell?! A kid?! A kid came to help me?!!" Kyuubi frowned and sighed at the use of the word 'kid', instantly reminded of Kakuzu and Lady Yonbi. But he added,

"But Queen Mizuya is worried about you!" Sanbi turned and scoffed,

"I can't help that fact right now!" He groaned, "But, truth be told, I can't leave my father yet so..." With that, Sanbi began to walk off. Kyuubi called over,

"But what about--"

"Get out of here, kid!" Sanbi responded.

"But!" Sakura called over.

"Leave! Understand?!" Sanbi called back. Kyuubi yelled out,

"But it's not even about that, it's--!" Sanbi shook his head and closed his eyes as he kept on walking, sighing,

"Kids don't ever listen, this is why this place is no place for a---" The water-god fell through a bloody hole in the floor.

"CHILD~!" He screamed as he fell through. Kyuubi sighed and asked Sakura,

"Should we... go after him?" The fairy sighed,

"We might as well..." Kyuubi nodded and took a breath before walking into the hole. Yelling slightly, the small demon landed on the lower floor, kimono now equipped with some blood-stains. Sanbi was looking around but when Kyuubi arrived, he sighed,

"Why are you still following me?! I told you to go home!" Kyuubi mewled,

"But what about you?"

"Look, I'll be fine. I've been exploring my father's stomach since I was little." The shark-god looked around and groaned slightly, "Yet..." He got a good grip on his sword, "He's been acting so strange lately..." The familiar swishing of a jelly was coming in closer, "Not to mention these damned electrified-jellyfish-- Oh, hold on!" Sanbi tossed his sword, which acted like a boomerang in the aspect that when he tossed it, it spun and sliced through the jellyfish before spinning back.

"Wow..." Kyuubi and Sakura sighed.

"Excuse me. Like I was saying, these electrified jellyfish and the ulcers that have developed around." Kyuubi tilted his head,

"Ulcers?"

"The bloody holes..." Sakura explained. Sanbi nodded and continued,

"And on top of that, that was swallowed up! But then again, this is no business for a child. Especially not one as small as you." Kyuubi pouted and protested,

"Hey! Just because I'm small doesn't mean that I can't do anything!" The small demon whimpered, "If I was so small... Would Hoshi have asked me to help him?" Sanbi blinked before asking,

"You know Hoshi?" Kyuubi nodded quietly and gave the water-god the Prince's letter. Sanbi read through it and gave Kyuubi a quick once-over before sighing, "Do you want to tag along that badly?" Kyuubi shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, like you said, you know your way around here better than I do." The shark-god smiled slightly.

"Well then," Sanbi turned and knelt down.

"Huh?"

"Climb on. I'm pretty sure that you won't be able to keep up with me on foot. So get on." Kyuubi pouted a bit, but climbed on anyway.

"However," Sanbi began, "I'm not leaving until I find what I'm looking for. So, you'll just have to hang on for the trip, okay?"

"Okay?" Came Kyuubi's answer. Sanbi nodded and began walking towards the next door. Inside was a hallway that was filled with more bouncing bubbles. Sanbi sighed,

"Hey... kid?"

"His name's Kyuubi." Sakura stated. The shark-god nodded and went on,

"Kyuubi, do you have any kunai or a slingshot?"

"Mm-hm."

"Those bubbles tend to hurt very badly if they hit you, so we need to clear some out of the way." The small demon understood and got his slingshot back out. Then, with careful aim, he shot one bubble... then another... then another before there was enough room to get through. "Thank you." Sanbi spoke before he rushed through to the next room.

"You move so quickly..." Kyuubi commented as he clutched onto the god's back. "Almost like..." Sanbi stopped and chuckled,

"Water?" The small demon nodded as he looked around. The new room was divided into two parts that were separated by a small chasm filled with more sticky water. Sanbi's ears twitched. "Hold on a second." He spoke before carefully moving towards the edge of the chasm. Squeeeakk! A fish flew out of the water. It was black on top and pink on the bottom; it also seemed to float in the air in front of the two demons for a second. "Well then? Are you going to do something or just float there?" The strange fish-monster squeaked again before flying towards the shark-god.

Sanbi smirked before taking Kyuubi from his back and hurling him to the opposite side of the chasm. Kyuubi screamed as he flew towards the opposite ledge. After landing, Kyuubi turned and yowled, "What was that for?! Sanbi-sama!" However, when Kyuubi looked into the chasm and saw Sanbi fighting off a swarm of those fish-monsters with his sword. "Oh..." Just as he was finishing off the last one, Sanbi coincidentally stepped on a switch. It caused the sticky water in the chasm to rise and take the god with it. Kyuubi and Sakura could only watch as Sanbi jumped out of the water and shook the sticky water off of himself. He placed his sword back on his back and then held out his hand.

"Come on. Back up you go." The orange-haired demon nodded and climbed back on Sanbi's back before they went through the next door, which held another hallway that ended with another blocked-off door.

"There's something on the ceiling again!" Sakura exclaimed, causing everyone to look up and see the strip of bone that was hanging from the ceiling. Sanbi sighed,

"Sorry about this, Father.", then he turned and called, "Kyuubi?" Kyuubi nodded and, aiming, he hit the bone. The door opened and they walked through it, finding themselves at the bottom of another chasm. The bottom of this one was filled with water and had a floating platform.

"Isn't this one of the earlier rooms?" Kyuubi asked. Just as Sanbi nodded, an octorock jumped out of the water and shot at the water-god.

"Damn it!" He growled as the rock hit him square in the chest. "Kyuubi, your slingshot?" The blue-skinned male held out his hand in order to get the device from the small demon on his back. "Let's see..." Sanbi waited. The octorock shot, Sanbi jumped out of the way and shot back, landing a direct hit. Once the octorock disappeared, they all waited for the platform to float down.

"Sanbi-sama?" Kyuubi asked as they waited.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering..." The small demon began, contemplating every word before he asked, "You know Prince Hoshi, right?" The platform came down and Sanbi jumped on, saying,

"Of course. I see him at least once a moon when I visit Kon Castle Town. What's on your mind Kyuubi?" Kyuubi sighed before continuing,

"I don't really know... Every time I've been to visit Hoshi, something about him..." Kyuubi mewled in embarrassment at what he was about to say, "Just makes me feel warm inside. Not just from chakra, but from something else. He always has a smile on his face when he sees me and at first I thought it was weird but now..." The orange-haired demon shook his head, "I just don't know!"

Sanbi had been listening to the little demon vent out and he had to stop himself from laughing. It had been so long since those exact feelings for someone had first occurred within him. The shark-god jumped off of the platform and sat Kyuubi down on the ledge. After taking care of that one persistent jelly, Sanbi sat down next to Kyuubi and sighed out, "I am starving! I haven't eaten since Lord Jabu-Jabun swallowed me." Sanbi dug around in the remains of his knapsack and found two rice balls. "Thank goodness..." He sighed.

"Here, you need to keep up your energy." The shark stated as he handed one of the rice balls to Kyuubi. The two ate in silence for a moment before Sanbi spoke up, "Kyuubi. Let me tell you a story."

"A story?" The small demon's ears twitched. Sanbi nodded.

"When I was young, probably only about fourteen years on this world, I was training to be an apprentice in Shion Village. One day, I met a young weasel-demon by the name of Rokubi..."

A/N: Nya! I left it off as a to be continued/cliff-hanger type thing! The next chapter will be a sub-chapter about how Sanbi (Kisame) and Rokubi (Itachi) first met when they were younger.

I hope that people liked the chapter. Please review!

Next time on The Legend of Hoshi: Metronome of Time:

"Gods or not, we have our own lives!! Why can't everyone understand that?!"

"Such insolence! How many demons would kill to be in your shoes?!"

-Tyranno's girl.