Under the Rabbit Moon

Recap: That night there was plenty of sleep to be had, but Izuna went into the armory and collected his best suit to the stand in his room and took care of the polish and maticance that took it from impressive to immaculate. Little by little he worked on the various braids that would keep his various katana artfully strapped to his side so they did not tangle but hung with regal care.

He almost returned to bed after that, but paused in front of the mirror. A pale Uchiha with high cheekbones and unscarred skin. A perfect prince.

His eyes were black as any other, but with a little push his pupils bled to a brilliant red, spinning with the gift she gave him that night four years ago. He was proud of his Mangekyō Sharingan, it wasn't like Madara's, but had a unique design not unlike a flowers when the tones connected. It was one of the most powerful sharingan the Uchiha clan had ever seen, arguably more powerful than even Madara's, though it was clear his elder brother excelled in the taijutsu and ninjutsu areas. Izuna's strengths were more on the genjutsu side, something Sakura recognized even before their Mangekyō Sharingan developed.

"It's why she couldn't come back to us," Madara offered, turning to watch his brother for any sort of reaction, fearing how the younger boy might take it. "It wasn't our fault," he added in a softer voice, touching Izuna's shoulder.

"I would have traded these eyes if I knew," Izuna hissed to his reflection, hating it. The chakra around him made his hair stand up on end. "I would have traded…anything if I knew, if I could have that day back to relive again and do differently. I would have given anything…"

He slumped forward in front of the mirror, knocking over jars of cream and oil. He felt his body shake but buried his face so the tears stayed hidden.

'Anything.'

"Do it again."

Kurama tried his best to growl without lifting his lips before turning his massive head off to the side away from where she sat on the stone floor. Sakura pouted and got up off her heels to follow him around until she was directly in his line of sight again. His eyes narrowed but he refused to move again.

"Come on, I said they were cool, didn't I?" Sakura whined, finishing with a childish pout.

She felt thirteen again and maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was separated from the rabbit goddess and even Inner Sakura. Inner was off somewhere else and Kaguya was in charge of Sakura's physical body while they were trapped. She mentioned something about time passing too slowly for Sakura to stay sane and Sakura let the goddess take control, knowing there was no harm to be done as long as they were swallowed by the voice of a heavenly item. Sakura didn't doubt that Kaguya would be able to get them out in no time. A few days was nothing worth worrying about.

"My teeth aren't for show," the nine tailed fox growled. Before Sakura could move he lunged and snapped his jaw down on her body, teeth tearing through her.

"Oh, that looks like it would hurt," Sakura said, staring down at the blood gushing out of her severed abdomen. It was in a dream, after all.

When he growled his teeth vibrated and Sakura felt a tickle shake her. She had learned after years in Kaguya's sleep, how to block out the pain of being eaten alive while still retaining sensations.

Sakura reached up and touched the edge of his lip, where fur started to grow in healthy orange hues. He flinched at the touch, having taken care to avoid contact until this moment. He shook his head and opened his mouth on the upswing of a shake, sending Sakura flying. She rightened herself in mid air and by the time her toes touched down her body was already mostly healed. Seconds later and she was as good as new.

"You are infuriating. It is hell to be stuck here with you," he growled, projecting his voice without snapping his wide jaws.

"It's only so bad because you're making it like that," Sakura said.

"No, you really are that annoying."

Sakura felt her cheeks inflate with a pout. "I've been called that too many times to take it seriously. You know the only people that call others annoying are the annoying ones themselves! You know how lame it is when a person can't take a joke and brings the mood down like a lead balloon at a party?"

"What are you, twelve?"

"I'm much older than that, but thanks for the complement," Sakura cheered.

"It wasn't a complement, kid."

"You said I looked young, didn't you?" Sakura brushed some of the blood off her shirt before wringing the cloth out. Red leaked out from the twists and stained her hands with its color.

"What do you want?" the oversized fox asked in a rumble that shook the whole mindscape and made the stone around them shiver.

"I want us to be friends. Kaguya said that it would be useless to try and win you over, but I disagreed. She wanted to just seal you away back in the stone tablets on the wall inside that cave, the one with the demon sealing statue. I think that might not be the best for you if you're already awake."

"That woman…where did she come from? The rabbit goddess should be dead, the woman from the other world died many years ago."

Sakura paused, blinking up at the fox. This was the first time he seemed interested in their conversation. "Ah, yeah, she did mention something about coming to this world because the version of her that was here, a sister she called it, had died. She never mentioned how or why, and I'm not sure she even knows that. But we came from a different world, a different stream of time."

The giant head rounded on her, suddenly in front of her once more, teeth bared and gleaming with a smattering of bloodstains still clinging to the edges. "Ah, you know me from that world then. You're a fool to think we are the same."

"In my world, you're there, and you're sealed inside one of my best friends."

"Another slave story, how boring."

"Now I'm really beating myself up for not hearing more about it from him, because that's exactly the opposite of how the story went. Somehow that blond knucklehead managed to make friends with you and there wasn't a need for seals or anything. You would talk to each other and share chakra all the time."

The face loomed closer, seeming to inflate with the proximity. "I don't believe you."

"Believe it!"

Sakura cheered before dissolving into a fit of giggles for how much she sounded like Naruto. It was even in his high pitch that was annoying from a close range. She sounded just like him, probably smiled like him too. Naruto would tease her if he were here to see it. He'd probably lose it, point at her angrily and complain about that being his catchphrase or something like that while Kakashi sighed and read from his book and Sai would make a comment about….about…

Sakura braced herself on the floor, palms smacking stones as her body heaved and shook with the impact. She had been so high and bubbly with cheer a moment ago, but there were tears pouring out of her and the shaking wouldn't stop. She wanted to laugh, she felt like laughing, she had just been laughing, so why wasn't she laughing?

'It's been years!' she mentally berated herself.

She felt something brush up against her side but she didn't look up. "Oi, are you finally going to choke and die on me?"

The side of his face swung and knocked her over onto her side, sending her into a roll across the floor. Sakura was quick to cover her face with her hands and rub at her eyes, smearing the tear stains. When she moved the heels of her palms away his face was hanging over her, turned enough that one huge, glowing eye, was directly above her.

"Your name is Kurama."

At her words the head reeled back and his teeth were back to glaring. "Not true! Who told you that?"

"Naruto."

Her voice sounded so much softer and less full. Her words were empty shells of what they would have been in Naruto's mouth. She had been too bubbly for too long and she felt old for it now.

"He uncovered a secret scroll somewhere, something with our names…"

"No, you told it to him."

The eye was back and looming, lashes close enough to tickle her. "I would never tell a human my name, especially not one that bound me and sealed me like a slave."

"Naruto didn't. I remember that. He swung open the doors of your cage and won you over with love. You were free and you chose him, chose to stay with him."

"I don't believe you."

Naruto's voice was in her mind and she heard him, saw him too. Naruto turned to her with a thumb up and grinned so wide it looked like it might break his face. 'Believe it!'

"I'm not Naruto. I can't make you believe anything. I'm just me. Kaguya isn't here either, I can't force you to do anything with a binding seal or anything like that. I'm not Sasuke or Kakashi, so I can't defeat you, I can't beat you in a fight. I'm not even Sai who could have gotten out of this situation on his own like a shadow in the dark. I'm just me. Sorry if that's not good enough for you."

The nine tailed fox reeled back and barked a laugh. "As if I had anything to fear from a human? I might be sealed in here thanks to that kami woman, but don't think even she cold erase my existence. I am unending power!"

"You're pure chakra, enough chakra for a planet's population, or at least 1/10 of it. I know the story."

Kaguya had shown her what had happened in both worlds. The story was so similar. A tree seeded from a god seed bore fruit that Kaguya consumed and the result was chakra. From the other fruit came into the world the tailed beasts. Consuming any one of them would have resulted in just as much chakra.

"Yes, yes, a mindless beast with no mind of it's own, eh? You know how I came to be and so you know I'm a monster, eh? Too dangerous to be allowed to walk free on the earth." The tails behind him swirled in agitation, swinging and swishing.

"Obviously that's not the case, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation right now," Sakura grumbled pushing herself up onto her elbows. "You're no more dangerous than me, and if you were mindless I wouldn't be here."

Kurama barked and snapped at her again, catching her legs in his teeth and flinging her far before turning and running as far as he could.

Sakura didn't chase him.

She couldn't keep track of time. Was it hours or days? Sakura felt like time had to have passed, even though she didn't age, her hair and nails didn't grow, and there was no sky to tell the time from. But time passed.

She and Kurama had many conversations. Often they would end with the nine tailed fox growing agitated enough to attack her and then run off like a child, but eventually he eased out of that habit and would start to use his words to 'excuse himself' when he wanted to be alone.

After some time Sakura stopped chasing after him and would wait on the ruins of the old stone temple they were trapped in. He would come to her, find her in a new spot and settle down alongside her. Sometimes he spoke, most times he didn't.

"How did you get mixed up in that person. You're nothing special."

Sakura looked up at the fox that had laid down to rest his head on his paws alongside her. His eyes were drooping and he looked ready to sleep. When he was tired he turned talkative.

"I ate her after my friends sealed her away."

He opened the eye closest to her and tilted his head in her direction. It was as good of an invitation as she would ever get when he was this tired.

"She was out enemy. She almost took over the world, but my teammates, Naruto and Sasuke were able to seal her at the last minute using all their strength. They couldn't kill her, however, and both ended up dying. My whole team, actually, died in that fight." Sakura took a shuddering breath, realizing it was getting easier to talk about it. "But we won the war so it was fine. People needed something to celebrate, even though a few of us knew that Kaguya's sealing wouldn't last forever."

"Humans," Kurama snorted, eyes closing again.

"I don't blame them," Sakura admitted, surprising herself. "They lost loved ones too. Ino lost her dad, and that was…no, there were a lot of losses and everyone hurt from something. They desperately needed something to help them begin to heal. Those loses could not be in vain."

"Humans are weak."

Sakura closed her eyes. "We are. But we try our best."

The fox huffed, readjusting himself. "It's baffling."

"I was the weakest of my teammates and I was the only one that survived. I wasn't a part of the final confrontation and I missed out on their last moments. Later I went to where they sealed her inside a tree and ripped it open. It would kill me, but I wanted to hurt her, even if it didn't amount to much."

When she looked up she saw that Kurama was watching her, a little more awake than before. He was listening.

"Yeah, well, you can guess how well that went. I don't know why, but instead of letting the acid eat me alive she took me into this world, into this old time on the other side of the rivers of world or whatever she called it. This isn't my history, or the past of my world, by a different world altogether, one where her version was killed."

"Yes, that's right, we ate the moon princess up and scared the rest of her clan away, I remember it," Kurama muttered, glancing away before licking his long fangs. "There were only three of us who managed to get away after that. All the others got sucked back and sealed into those tiles."

"In my history, or the history of my world you were all freed by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki and set loose on the lands after he sealed his mother away."

"I don't want to hear about my history in your world. You were talking about you, not me," the nine tailed fox barked, eyes flashing. He readjusted his paws and crawled closer to the edge of the ruin steps where Sakura sat. "Don't get distracted. What did that woman want with you?"

"I don't know. I didn't know why she brought me here, either. I've been trying to block her out as much as possible and keep her from taking over my body, like she has at times. I don't think she…I don't think she's strong enough to control me completely, but she's not contested me for control like I feared she would. When I need her she…helps me. Because of her I'm powerful and feared and looked at like a god. She seems to enjoy that."

"She's a tricky bitch."

Sakura laughed and Kurama huffed, fur settling from the usual rustle. "Yeah, I guess she is. She didn't think I could do any good with you, either. She's always on this 'fear and blood' is the only thing gods are good for kick and it' annoying. She's super doom and gloom. She's worried about something too."

"There will always be war and fear and blood. She need not invite it."

"Yeah, well she was really shitty to the Hyuga and they're dicks so not like I care, but she got freaked out about some of the things they said and did. She told me I would need Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha to help stop….I don't know what it was, but to stop a great and terrible 'it,' whatever it is."

"Who are these men?"

"They're not men yet, they're boys. There were kids I was helping to raise. I didn't want her getting near them because they were so young. I know they'll be important and strong men one day, but for now they're just kids…."

"You can see the streams of possibility?"

He asked her and Sakura touched her seal. The seal split apart and her third eye blinked open, red and brilliant. Kurama hissed at the spinning tomes. Sakura slid her hands back across the stone until she was laying down with her back on the surface. She closed her eyes, inhaled, and then shut her third eye.

"You have her abilities then."

"Some of them," Sakura admitted. "I have learned a few of them and others are ones she has to take over to use. I've gotten pretty good a kenjutsu." She waved her hand and bone sword grew out of her wrist. "But that's pretty much it."

"We'll see."

Sakura rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's boring in this place with nothing to do," he yawned. "I need some entertainment."

Then he was asleep.

Sakura later learned what he meant by 'entertainment' was to create a few dozen shadow and fire clones that would test Sakura's skill with the sword. That was fun for only one person. But then it would get really interesting when he would swoop down like a giant force of nature and Sakura had to fight him back in his monster sized form with just her sword. None of their wounds lasted very long, but Sakura did feel like her instincts developed somewhat.

Sakura didn't know how long they stayed in their world like that.

She engaged Kurama less and less, going off to wander the ruins on her own and lay down for an unnumbered time span. He turned it into a game of hide and seek where he could chew on her a little bit if he got to find her. Sometimes she would react and try to get away first, but other times she would just lay in his teeth and stay still until he dropped her and then pawed at her until she admitted she was okay.

"How long have I been stuck in here?" she breathed tiredly one day as Kurama nuzzled the side of her body where wounds from his teeth still bled. He seemed to try and stop the gushing with his nose but only time made anything better in the ruins of Sakura's mind.

"Time is a concept you humans created to measure the rate of your decay. You do not decay."

"Those boys do. How long have I been away from them?" Sakura asked, rolling away from his nose. He whined and followed her with his maw opening up to lick at her face. "Ew, stop that."

"Can't you forget about them? They don't matter."

"I can't access Kaguya. I should be able to. How else will she know to let me out of this place?"

"You don't need that bitch," Kurama growled. He snapped his jaws up above her head for the sound of teeth on teeth. He then reached down and licked the side of her face again. "Stay here."

"Come with me."

Kurama huffed loudly, reaching back so that he could circle her body where it lay in the dust before settling down to lay around her in a crescent moon shape, nine tails flickering and swirling on their own. "I'll get out on my own, but I'm not going anywhere with that bitch. Maybe I'd come to trust you, maybe I'd come to like you, but I will never trust her or her kind. You'll have to drag me out with chains."

Sakura closed her eyes and ran a hand over where the fabric tore and her skin bled. She could feel the material slowly knit back together. "I won't do that to you."

"Then once you leave, it's our parting."

Sakura pouted. "You don't think you'll miss me?"

He leaned down to lick her face again. "Of all the humans I've known, you are the most tolerable. But I would not be a slave, not even for you."

And Sakura hated it how in one more thing she fell second to Naruto. What he could do she was unable to do. Even with the foreknowledge and time she was unable to win over the nine tailed fox like he had. Not that she wanted to be bonded or connected with Kurama, but she knew that the world would hate him if he was free, and that would transform him into a mess of anger and hurt.

"You're crying."

Sakura lifted an arm to drop over her eyes. "Am not."

"Then you're leaking."

"Fine. Whatever." She inhaled deeply and hated the taste of dust in her mouth. "Just, when you're free, don't hate humans too much. If you do you can just come back and take it out on me. I'll let you eat me."

His ears picked up. "You'll let me eat you up?"

"…If you need someone to take your hurt out on."

Kurama threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Very well. I will seek you out when my vengeance needs sating."

Sakura reached out blindly with her other hand and felt his fur. It was one of his tails that she had a hold on. She felt the flesh of it and ran her nails down it again and again until she felt him settle into a rare state of contentment. He didn't purr, but there was a sort of snoring sound he made when she pet him that let her know he was content.

His tails were especially sensitive, almost as much as the dips behind his ears. If he was especially agitated she knew she could only get him to melt for her with a good scratch there. Of course he never admitted to it verbally. He only cursed at her and screamed that he wasn't a 'damn dog to pet.'

Sakura felt so odd.

She knew she was sleepy, but she felt heavy, like she was going to fall through the world and never stop falling…, like she was being put under a genjutsu. She was locked away before she could move her hands to dispel it and that was the last thing she remembered.

"You!" Kurama growled dangerously, red eyes glowing with molten fire. "You dare trespass here, I won't allow it."

Kaguya held up a single palm and the world was impossibly heavy. Gravity pulled Kurama down and even he was helpless to struggle against it. But he lifted his head enough to see the woman wordlessly move towards Sakura.

"Don't touch her, you filthy witch!"

Kaguya looked back and actually grinned at his fallen form, touching the back of her hand to her lips to hide the smile that creeped up into her eyes. "What a silly little pet, thinking he has any right to talk to me like that. You're no more intimidating that the kit I remember from my world. You couldn't stop me even if you wanted to."

Kurama roared and forced his chakra up against hers, struggling to lift himself a little at a time, still under the influence of crushing gravity. His eyes were liquid fore as he charged his chakra and light began to form deep in his throat.

Kaguya reached for Sakura and smirked as she pulled the girl up into her arms like a mother would her child. The gravity doubled and Kurama was forced back into the ground before her jutsu cut out and the world returned to normal.

"You amuse me, fox. I had thought I would just force you into a cage within her to make Sakura happy, but I don't think she would like that anymore. She's uniquely dedicated to the idea you come to her willingly, a thing you swore you would never do."

"So long as you dwell within her," he growled, still shaking from the impact.

"I believe you. Unfortunately, I am unwilling to watch your dance any longer. Sakura won't last much longer if she stays awake. Her mind is strong, strong enough to survive almost two years worth of isolation, but much more would drive her mad. She's still human…after all."

"What are you going to do then? This is her mind."

"This is, but while she was trying to talk it out with you, her co pilot at the time fell into a trap and now we're all stuck inside the Kohaku no Jōhei, the Amber Purifying Pot. Not even I may be able to break from it."

Realization came over the nine tailed fox as the world took on a new level of heat as his tails fluttered in wild agitation. "Those snacks!" he barked. "How dare the treat me with such disrespect. First they eat of my flesh, now they dare this?"

"They won't keep you trapped here forever. They'll work to get the seals undone and soon we'll be back on the outside. Once there I will do my best to encourage Sakura to see reason and restrain you like the pet you are."

Kurama bit at Kaguya, snapping his jaws just inches from her face. "And I'll encourage Sakura to shed you like an old skin, moon witch! You are nothing but a terrible blight in her life, a bringer of misfortune."

Kaguya blinked and there was a moment when hurt might have flickered across her face, but she raised her chin and let her eyes drop half closed in disinterest. "I can not be parted from her so easily, nor would I want to. She needs me for what is to come."

"War and blood?" he mocked.

"The Hyuga were there, their fear has peaked and their elders have already sent up prayers to the moon. Do you know the horror of my clan's men, pup? Do you know what a hoard of others as dangerous as I could do to this world? They won't stop till they've consumed all the tailed beasts and reclaimed chakra from every living creature as I once sought to." Kaguya drew Sakura's body closer to her. "The day draws closer."

"I don't fear the moon people."

"Then fear me," Kaguya hissed, inflating with chakra until she was just as large as the nine tailed fox's full size. Sakura was a crumb in her one hand. "I will smite the worm that comes between me and my child's fate or me and my revenge. The moon clan will rue the day they turned their teeth on my home."

Kurama's fur ruffled as he tried to inflate himself as well. "I'll tear you up once we're free from this."

Kaguya glared, but brought her hand up and her form started to lift, Sakura with it. "We shall see. That day will dawn before you know it. Until then, Sakura will sleep safe within me."

She swallowed Sakura and ate her like a peach.

Kurama roared and it shook the old ruins.

AN:I am back from China. That was wild. It was much harder to get onto the computer from there and i couldn't update anything from my phone, so this is late and I'm sorry, but it's written and I'm still recovering. I'm such a mess. Wwe got off the plane Sunday and I went to work Monday. Training and classroom prep for this teacher and not enough sleep make for a very interesting week. I hope you like this chapter, the next one is coming out soon as well, to hopefully make up for the delay. I'm trying my best, thank you.

Soon we will see the reunion. Soon Sakura will see her boys. Soon the wait will be over...or will it?

Hashirama and Madara 17.5
Izuna and Tobirama 16
Itame 15
Kawarama 14

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