Chapter 14 !Cuddle!Warning!

Narumi sat in the near empty classroom, anxiously waiting.

As per usual, she enjoyed her morning ramen. Lately it had started changing, but tasted amazing anyways. She couldn't figure it out, but her body felt a little better too. It wasn't just easier to move around, but she felt quicker, lighter, and her body could bend better, like taking off some thick clothes or something.

Her eyes roamed towards the door as another to-be student walked in. Short brown hair, normal clothes, taller than her, but bland. His eyes went to her, and she could just feel the annoyance in his demeanor as he realized who she was. Another kid that was told mean things about her…

Sighing, she let her head hit the dest. Was it really too much to ask for a single person to not take offense by her very presence? Everywhere she goes, someone is always saying something about her, and keeping the others away. Even things she didn't really do!

The sounds of footsteps drew her attention again. Black hair shaped kind of duck-butt-like… What kind of hair-style is that? DId he like ducks? ..Black turtleneck, white shorts.. and the police emblem? Weird.

"Eep! I'm S-Sorry!"

Narumi's gaze snapped to the voice. Another brown-haired boy walked in, followed by.. Hinata! She waved, smiling, hoping to get her attention. Hearing a sound next to her, she paused. Looking towards her side, she found duck-hair sitting next to her… She looked left. A window. Right, left, no empty seat...

Her head hit the table again.

"Hey, doesn't that hurt?"

Narumi's gaze turned towards the side as she lifted her head. The police-boy was looking at her concerned. "Mn, I'm fine… Why are you talking to me?"

"Eh? Why wouldn't I?"

Now she was really confused. "Shouldn't your mother have told you to stay away, or something?" She watched as the confused boy looked at her as if she was crazy.

"No."

It was simple, but had built up some hope, and she visibly brightened. "My names Uzumaki Naruto! What's yours?"

Again, he looked at her as if she was crazy. "Mine? How do you not know that?"

Narumi blinked owlishly, then frowned, "because I don't? And I don't really want to call you duck-head or something."

"Duck.. Head? Huh?"

"Your hair, it looks like a duck's butt, 'ttebane. I was thinking maybe you liked ducks or som-"

"IT DOES NOT!" Duck-butt cried out.

"Eh? B-But it-" Narumi tried.

"Shut up!" "Yea!" "Leave him alone!" Looking around, the redhead suddenly found herself surrounded by girls. "Don't talk to Sasuke-sama!" "You shouldn't even be here!" "Mama said he's evil!" "Stay away from him!" "Get away from Sasuke-sama!"

The more it went on, the more Narumi wanted to simply disappear. More and more slowly joined in, until she finally jumped on the desk and tried running out the door. Unfortunately, that was stopped as she plowed into a wall.

"My, my, what do we have here. Already trying to skip class? ..Well, maybe we can find a suitable punishment." Despite the soft spoken words, Narumi found the woman's voice scary. She shivered at the glare.

A few moments later, the emotional child was standing out in the hall holding a bucket of water in each hand, unable to hear what was going on inside the room. Still, she didn't let her tears fall, no matter how much they tried.

Any sign of her yet?

No… I wonder where she is? The classes let out hours ago.

...I've been waiting by her apartment, but nobody is here.

Well, her follower appeared earlier, and is still here. I'm going to go inside.

Eh? Shadow wasn't watching her during class?

No, she wasn't. I'm going in to get her now.

..Be safe.

A red-furred fox carefully slipped out of the bush. The evening light was plenty for her to see as she slipped through the shadows. Her stealth skills had come along incredibly recently, enhancing upon her evasion skills from before the 'incident'. Quickly, the girl found her way to a still-open window, and wall-walked through it.

The empty classroom was filled with unique scents, but not one pertained to her target. Padding to the door, she realized that it wouldn't be easy to open, if at all, in her current shape. Quickly the fox shifted to her human form, turned the handle, and disappeared back into fur. Haruna nosed her way through the small gap, and kept on sniffing until finding the correct scent.

A few moments later had her staring at a trembling redhead, holding two buckets that were sloshing water out from the jerky shakes. Tears were flowing down her face, openly displaying her obvious pain.

Oh no…

What?

Bucket torture.

WHAT?! ALREADY?!

..We're going to Ichiraku. Meet us there.

Narumi continued as told all day long. She held on, taking the punishment with her head held high. It didn't stop the taunts or jokes at her expense. A few had even tried pushing her over, hoping to get the buckets to spill. She knew that would get her in even more trouble. But when class let out, the teacher told her to do it until dark. Only then could she leave…

A sudden fuzz against her leg shocked her to attention. Narumi looked down at the red bundle as it wormed its way around her legs. "H-Haruna?" It looked up and nodded. "I-I'll come with yo-you in a-a while. I h-have to stay and fini-"

Hearing a growl, the redhead jumped, spilling some water, shocked at her fox friend's attitude. She was growling! "Bu-But I can't!" The sound only got louder, which started scaring her. "O-okay, we'll go! I just need t-to empty the-ese!"

Narumi set one down and went to toss the water, then did the other, and put the buckets up. Never before had her arms felt so dead to her. They were more wiggly than jello! Tentatively, she followed the little fox out of the building, opening doors for using her back and legs instead of arms.

Only when she got near the smell of heaven did she take notice of her path. Eyes alit with joy, her soreness practically disappeared as she ran ahead. "Jii-san!"

"Hoho, come back for a second time today, have you? How was your first day of the Academy?"

The dead tired child almost didn't notice the fox hop upon her lap as she proceeded to fill him in on duckbutt boy, the girl-gang, and evil buckets. Her surprising happiness at such a terrible day put a frown upon the old man's face. He could almost believe she really was happy. Or maybe it was because of him and the ramen. Though her appearance did explain why Fuyuna had returned.

He wanted to tell her that was wrong, but by now he was sure she really was happy. Apparently just being there was enough for her, as sad as that thought was. He unfortunately stayed quiet about it, and allowed her to talk. Teuchi didn't want to spoil her improving mood...

Despite her happy demeanor, it didn't rub off. This was not a pleasant night for the chef, as displayed by the stiff smile.

Pink slitted eyes watched as a tuft of red was, once more, heading out the doorway of a classroom. She's out. Again.

This makes two entire weeks!

Longer than ours. I wonder what's different?

...What can we do, though?

She can't learn if nobody is willing to help.

We can help!

But how? We can't force the teacher to do anything. We can't even show ourselves! People try to chase us every time we're seen! And our human form is even worse - who knows what would happen if they find the two of us not going to the academy?

...force us to go?

Yea, but what if they ask questions? Or take us for an examination? Who knows what else?!

...terrible things?

Quit that!

We can teach her ourselves.

How? Most everything we learned was a lie!

Most.. but not all. We know a little bit of reading, right?

Yea, but not enough. We'd have to go to the library or something.

Exactly! The library!

...Bad idea!

But it's all we have!

I'm going to get her out of the hall. See if you can get something from the library that can help us to read. Ask if Jii-san can help.

Jumping from branch to branch, a tuft of blonde descended to the ground, before shooting off towards an open window. She didn't care that the room was filled, just jumped through anyways. The open door was her aim, shooting through the window, her aim proved true, landing her against the wall outside the door. Her second leap had her headed towards her sister and back on the floor. Fuyuna ignored the surprised shouts from behind.

Stopping behind her sister, who was filling buckets of water again - unimaginative teacher, maybe, but definitely a painful punishment - and growled. Water splashed everywhere as the redhead whirled around. Narumi sprinted off, an insanely happy sister following her already.

It didn't take long before the pair slipped through the streets, the fox child staying hidden, and towards the ramen stand. It would obviously be empty soon, but they didn't chance it. Fuyuna led her into the back door of the building.

"Jii-san, is it going to pick up soon?"

"No, it's going to be another quiet day. Why?"

"Mn, nee-chan is coming."

"Ah, she doesn't have to help out today. One of you is more than enough."

"..The other nee-chan."

Teuchi turned towards his little helper with a raised brow. "Isn't she in class?"

Haruna looked downtrodden, "they kicked her out again. Fuyuna is bringing her here. We wanted to know if you could tell us a good book to learn reading?"

Teuchi's features unnaturally hardened. "I thought I told you both not to approach her."

"Eh? But her follower shadow doesn't watch her at the academy. She'll be coming alone instead."

The ramen chef was still disgruntled, but left it at that. So long as they were being careful. He just hoped it would turn out okay. "Have her back before the last hour of academy, just to be safe."

Haruna smiled widely, "Hai!"

"..and get a dictionary. Go to a bookstore, not a library. I'll help you with the basic Hiragana and Katakana if you need it. From there, the dictionary should show you the rest." He walked out the door with a steaming bowl.

Haruna hurried towards the other door and hurriedly opened it just in time, forgetting to say her thanks in the process. "Hurry in!"

Two blurs flew through the door before it shut. The blonde watched as the redhead giggled, finally 'catching' her sister. She followed suit after seeing the distraught appearance of her fox-shaped sister. It took a moment for both to settle down.

Narumi let the struggling fox go before realizing that someone else was in the room, and had been laughing with her. Then the smells hit, and she knew it was Ichiraku's. Only then did she look at the other person, gasping. "Y-You..!"

"Hello, nee-chan" Fuyuna waved, unintentionally distracting Narumi from seeing Haruna shapeshift into a human right behind her.

"You're.. so cute!" Just as she was about to jump forward and hug the strangely familiar girl, somehow comfortable enough to want physical contact, she felt arms wrap around her. "Eh?"

Narumi was stiff from the unexpected contact. It was a strange sensation. She had seen others doing this, and had about done it automatically herself. It was almost foreign, with only her Jiji doing it every once in awhile. Looking back, she found herself in the a similar hugging she had tried to put the other fox-eared girl in. Something Narumi was surprisingly completely okay with. "Hello, nee-chan!"

"Eh?" Narumi furrowed her brows. "Why are you calling me that?"

"Who are you?" She looked back and forth between the two fox sisters, shifting anxiously. The redhead didn't know why, but she didn't want to be rejected by these two at all. Not if she could help it.

"Um~" "How to explain?" "Maybe just get it out there?" "So.." "We're your sisters?" "Kind of?" "Maybe, but not quite?" "We don't actually know?"

"Huh?" Now even more confused, she picked out the one word that made sense from the weird lookalike girls going back and forth. "Sisters?"

""...Probably.""

"I have sisters?" Narumi breathed out, wide eyed, watching as the twins - they had to be - looked between each other again, pulled the hair away from their faces to show something that had only been seen in a mirror before, then nodded. "Kyaa!" She lunged at the 'sister' in front of her, hugging tightly. "I-have-sisters~! I-really-have-sisters!"

"Ehehe, don't forget me~" The other followed, finishing the three way hug. Narumi found herself snuggled between two soft and cozy tails. Of course they were attached to the 'sisters', as they said, but the tails~!

They jumped all at once as a distinctly male voice coughed. "Shouldn't one of you be headed towards the bookstore?"

"Ah! I'll go. I just.. need money? ...where is it?" Haruna removed herself, pulled her hood up, and hid her tail. A moment later had her exiting the door, after thanking Teuchi profusely for the pocket change.

Before they knew it, Fuyuna and Narumi were alone - Teuchi was serving another round outside.

"Okay, so, where to start~" Fuyuna tilted her head. "My name I guess? Uzumaki Fuyuna, 'ttebane."

"Eh? You do that too?!"

Fuyuna blushed. "We all do, I guess."

"I'm Uzumaki Narumi! ..eh? Where'd Fuyuna go?"

Fuyuna's face seemingly turned into a tomato as she remembered her earlier plight.

!Warning!Author!Note!Warning!
!WARNING!-I-am-a-joke-Warning-!WARNING! XD
-Can anyone confirm if FF removes Italic+Underline formatting with copy/pasting?-
-Or is it something else..?-

The dice are rolling.
Their gambles are piling up.
Can they stay hidden?
Can they afford not to act?
Can they protect their sister properly?
Can they start her on the right path?

Will there be peace?
Will there be chaos?
Will there be friends?
Will there be enemies?
Will there be a future?
Will there be an end?

Anyways~
Yes, they're in a new dimension.
Yes, they're finally garnering attention.
Yes, they're probably going to get into trouble. (or cause it? :3)
… Yes, this story will get progressively darker over time (what proper story doesn't?)
… Yes, this story will retain its' fluffiness, even when there is darkness about. (Yay~)

In the future: Mischief. Confrontation. Distress. Emotional Breakdowns. Love. Family. Me!
It's true! I shall appear again! With another chapter!
I'm going to keep outputting them once a day.
I hope... No guarantee! I'm lazy!
(I'm also trying to at least proofread my chapters a bit before release, and I'm just not the type to do that when they're finished… Don't hate me for it!)

Now that my weird little.. big author's note is done, I just have one last thing to say!

Thank You All for Reading and Reviewing! :D