Rating: M

Warnings: Language, vague angst, mentions of an attack on a child, sibling bickering, emotional constipation, etc.

Word Count: ~4900

Pairings: eventual Kakashi/Kurama, past Sasuke/Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't hold the copyrights, I didn't create them, and I make no profit from this.

Notes: Several people have mentioned that this story is getting unpleasant to read because of all the tension, and I'm very sorry for that. It's a tense situation, though, and I don't have a way to make it all lighthearted without losing every bit of plot I've constructed. If it's really unlikeable, all I can say is there are other stories out there that might be more to your taste. Apologies, but I can promise a happy ending if that helps at all.

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Chapter XXI: Assuage

[assuage / ə , swāj/, to make an unpleasant feeling less intense; to relieve; to satisfy, as an appetite or hunger. Middle English, from old French assouagier, based on Latin ad- "to" + suavis "sweet".]

"Momiji!" Fuji yelps, scrambling around to plant herself in front of Kurama, even as small hands latch onto the back of Kurama's shirt. "Momiji, stop! I'm fine, I know you're angry I ran away but he's—"

The silver fox growls warningly. "Don't cover for the humans, they kidnapped you—"

"Off of Mount Inari?" Fuji demands, somewhere between incredulous, exasperated, and frantic. "Momiji, you've got nothing but fur between your ears! Kurama-sama is a nine-tailed fox! Of course I was going to go with him!"

There's a moment of absolute silence, and Momiji says suspiciously, "Nine-tailed…?"

Fuji huffs, sitting down with a thump and leveling a scathing glare at the fox that can only be her brother. "You think I'd stick with anyone else without a contract?" she asks witheringly, though there's still a thread of nervous tension in her body. "Kurama-sama needed help, and Elder Yuri is always talking about duties and how the nine-tailed fox was the one to give us chakra in the first place, so we should repay our debts to him, and he gave me oden, Momiji—"

With a long, drawn-out groan, Momiji deflates entirely, flopping down on his belly and crossing his paws over his snout to hide his eyes. "Hell, Fuji, I don't know what I'm more surprised about, the fact that you actually listened to those lectures or that you conned our god into feeding you. You're such a brat."

Seeing the way Fuji is puffing up, Kurama decides that it's time to step in before this devolves into full-out sibling bickering. He gently detaches the hands from his haori, then steps forward, though he's careful to keep all three kids behind him. "It wasn't a con," he says firmly. "Fuji saved me from getting brainwashed or mind-wiped, and I didn't have any better way to repay her. I still don't. She's the only reason we've made it this far, and I'm in her debt."

One paw shifts enough for Kurama to see Momiji's black-masked face, and the silver fox stares at him for a long moment. He studies Kurama carefully, then sits up again, his five white-tipped tails curling around his feet. "You're really—?"

There's a simple way to answer, though Kurama's not sure how Naruto's passenger will react to the show. Still, he's going to have to deal with his past self waking up at some point, and now isn't the worst time for it to happen. Naruto could use a trump card, just in case something happens to Kurama, and once the Kyuubi has had some sense smacked into him, he'll serve admirably.

With that in mind, Kurama takes a breath, thinks of Kaguya, and summons his chakra, letting it rise like a fiery tide around him. It tints the air scarlet, covers everything with a wash of power that lingers at the back of the throat like the metallic taste of blood. There's a sense of wind and fire to it, malice and rage and an ancient, suppressed fury that's unmistakable.

"Yeah," Kurama says, opening his eyes and meeting Momiji's pale blue gaze. "I really am."

"Kurama-nii?" Naruto asks curiously, and Kurama instantly chokes off his chakra, turning and dropping to one knee. There's the faintest flicker of foreign chakra in Naruto's system, not enough to speak of the Kyuubi awake, but…he's stirring. The flare of power was like a nudge, bringing him from the depths of sleep to the beginning of an awakening.

"Sorry, kit. I know that was a lot of chakra," Kurama says gently, smoothing a hand over his messy hair. He glances over his shoulder to where Momiji is still watching, sharp eyes flickering between Naruto and Kurama with something like confusion, and tips one shoulder in a half-shrug, a silent promise to explain later. It probably won't be as easy as explaining to Fuji was, but he owes it to both foxes. Fuji's been avoiding her family by helping him, after all.

"Are you really a nine-tailed fox, Kurama?" Fū asks interestedly, sliding forward to stare at Momiji with wide-eyed wonder.

"It's…complicated," Kurama says a little helplessly. He doesn't particularly want to explain, but he will if he's pushed. Not everything, because that's too much for any kid to deal with, but there's enough he can give them that it will stand in for a full explanation. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart."

"I won't." It's Gaara, surprisingly, who says it. He shifts forward, fingers finding Kurama's sleeve and his wide, blue-green eyes solemn. With a glance at Naruto, and then another at Fū, he says, "You're not scary, Kurama-nii. Moth—Shukaku says the Kyuubi is mean and scary. You're not."

Shukaku says, huh? Kurama tucks that thought away to hold over the Ichibi's head later, and reaches over to ruffle wild red hair with a smile. "Thanks, squirt. You're not scary, either."

From the way Gaara lights up at this, you'd think Kurama just gave him the world on a platter. It makes irritation at Suna flare, sharp and hot as a volcano on the edge of erupting, but Kurama shoves the anger back down and doesn't let it show. The bastards don't know what they're missing, treating Gaara like a monster. The kid is…not entirely terrible.

(Kurama can almost hear his Naruto laughing at him. Idiot.)

"Yeah!" the six-year-old Naruto chimes in, throwing himself forward and latching onto Kurama's arm. "You're still the same, Kurama-nii, so nothing's changed!"

It's—fine, Kurama thinks, swallowing past the lump in his throat. Whatever. It's not like it would have been the end of the world if Naruto thought he was strange, or a monster, or was even just wary at the idea of nine-tailed fox that looked like a human. He doesn't care, wouldn't care either way, but—

He presses a kiss to Naruto's forehead and wraps an arm around him in return. "Thanks, kit," he murmurs, and glances back to see that Momiji is still watching. The fox has lost the edge of angry suspicion, expression more curious than anything else. Fuji's eyes are on them, too, her ears perked up and face full of mirth. Kurama gives her a smile. "Thanks for everything, Fuji. I still owe you that star ball, so hit me up next time you're around—"

"What?!" Fuji yelps, bolting to her feet. "I'm not leaving, Kurama-sama, you still need me!"

Kurama blinks, caught off guard. He glances over at Momiji, whose expression has shifted to considering, and then reminds the vixen, "Fuji, you're already going to be in trouble."

"So?" she asks stubbornly, undeterred. "I'm going to be in trouble whether I go back now or later, so it might as well be later. And if Momiji thinks he can drag me back, I'll—I'll fight him!"

"You'd lose," Momiji says dryly, rising to his feet and stepping past his sister. He body-checks her out of his way, making her snarl in aggravation, but ignores his sibling's irritation and instead faces Kurama squarely. "You really need Fuji's help?" he asks, tone assessing and pale eyes thoughtful.

A little wary, Kurama nods. "We're headed for Kiri, and there are people after us. I can make it on foot, but if there's any way to get there faster, it will save us a lot of grief. Besides, Fuji's smart, and she's brave. She's already gotten us out of more than one scrape that we probably wouldn't have managed without her."

"Well, then you'll do even better with two foxes helping," Momiji says with certainty. "I've got five tails, and I'm better with chakra than most of the summons twice my age. Flying is my specialty. Since you've been taking care of my brat of a sister, let me repay you by getting you to Kiri."

That—that is absolutely the very last thing Kurama expected, and he blinks in surprise, rocking back on his heels. "I—really? But don't you have to get back to Mount Inari? And—there are four of us."

Even as he says it, though, relief is uncoiling inside of him, taking the place of the sick-tight knot of nervous tension that's been present since Fū joined them. Fuji can carry three, after all, when two of those three are tiny and light, but any more than that is asking too much of her. To have a solution to that, to have a way to get to Water Country in a quarter of the time it would take walking—that solves so many problems that just for a second Kurama finds it hard to breathe from the release of tension. Sage, if Momiji is serious—

The reynard gives an eerie, yipping laugh, ears pricking. "Kurama-sama, you're a nine-tailed fox. Of course I'll help. Fuji's a brat, but she's right about that much. And if I'm here, the elders won't mind that Fuji is, too. I can feed her chakra, and we'll fly the four of you to Kiri."

Sage, but this might actually work out. Kurama breathes out, a little shaky with relief, and says with complete sincerity, "Thank you. Thank you, Momiji."

With an answering laugh, Fuji leaps up, jumping over Momiji's back, rolling happily, and then bouncing back to her feet. "You're the best, Momiji! I take back everything I said about you being a nasty, boring know-it-all!"

"Hey!" Momiji snaps, bristling. "When exactly were you saying that, brat?" He pounces on her, wrestling her to the ground, and in an instant they're a snarling, snapping ball of silver and white fur, bared teeth, and sibling indignation.

Well, Kurama thinks with a mix of exasperation and amusement, as Naruto cheers and Fū laughs and even Gaara smiles a little. At least the trip will never get boring.

As it turns out, Momiji wasn't bragging when he mentioned his talent with chakra, though Kurama—well-acquainted with vulpine exaggeration and pride—had half-expected him to be doing just that. With Fuji riding the tail-end of his chakra, Fū and Gaara happily perched on her back, they manage to cross all of Rice Paddy Country and most of Hot Springs Country before the lack of reliable light drives them back to earth.

With the waning moon above them, Momiji touches down lightly, the foxfire around his paws flickering out of existence. Fuji's landing is slightly less graceful, but she's practically vibrating with excitement as she crouches to let her passengers off.

"That was so much fun!" Fū enthuses, helping Gaara slide down and supporting the sleepy boy when he wavers. It's almost midnight, and even though Fū seems just fine, the younger members of their ragtag band are almost unconscious. "Thank you, Fuji!"

"You're very welcome," Fuji says, almost smug, and then shifts back to her regular small form and leaps up to curls around the girl's neck.

Momiji snorts, muttering something about glory thieves and credit-stealers under his breath, but doesn't move as Kurama dismounts, carrying Naruto. The bigger fox looks a little tired himself, but he follows gamely as Kurama starts laying out bedrolls for the boys. Fū has her own pack, and she pulls a tightly-rolled blanket out of it, seemingly content to curl up in that with Fuji sprawled out next to her.

"You gonna sleep, Kurama-nii?" Naruto asks blearily, tugging on Kurama's sleeve as Kurama settles him on the blanket.

"Not yet, kit," Kurama says, gently scuffing a hand through blond hair. "I'll keep watch for a bit. Go to sleep, okay? We've got another long day tomorrow."

Naruto mumbles something vaguely agreeable, closing his eyes and burrowing under the covers. It's cold, but Hot Springs Country is at least a bit warmer than most places this far north, thanks to being so close to the ocean, and since they're camping at the foot of a steeply sloping hill, there isn't enough of a wind to make it frigid. Kurama could probably get away with starting a fire for added warmth, but he'll take any excuse not to; the close call with both Kakuzu and the Freak Squad is still foremost in his mind.

Still, they're far enough away from any signs of life that Kurama feels safe enough leaving a clone to stand watch while he heads up the hill. To his surprise, Momiji follows, though he stays silent as they pick their way around outcroppings of bare stone and a few scattered stands of trees.

The moon is waning, a little less than half-full by now, and around it the stars are clear and bright. It's a nice change from the heavy cloud-cover of Ame, or the intermittent clear skies of Waterfall, and at the crest of the hill Kurama pauses, turning his face up to the sky. At his side, Momiji does the same, standing close enough that Kurama can feel the warmth of his fur pressed up against his side. The easy quiet lingers for a long moment before the fox says, "They're very fond of you. The children and my sister both."

Kurama huffs out a breath that's a little too bitter to be a laugh, sinking down to sit cross-legged on the grass. "Those kids haven't exactly had a lot of people they could be fond of," he points out. "And Fuji's sweet. It's hard not to like her, even when she isn't saving my ass."

Momiji chuckles, dropping to sprawl out and resting his angular head on Kurama's knee. "She's okay," is his assessment. "Are we up here for a reason, or just to look at the stars?"

Dragging a hand through his hair, Kurama shoots one more glance at the moon before settling back, resting his hands in his lap. "My sister's missing. I really want to believe that she's not dead, or sealed, and the only way to find out is to keep checking for her in our mental world. You'll keep an eye out while I do?"

The silver fox makes a noise of assent. "Of course, Kurama-sama. I can't smell anyone nearby, though."

"Neither can I," Kurama agrees. "But just—stay sharp, okay?" Taking a breath, he closes his eyes and reaches out. They're near the border of Frost Country, just about the closest they can get to Kumo without leaving Hot Springs Country, and Kurama vaguely hopes that proximity will make some kind of difference. If nothing else, maybe one of the other bijuu will be able to remember the last time Matatabi was present. It's safest to assume that she's been captured by Akatsuki, stripped from her host and stuffed into that damned statue, but—

Kurama doesn't want to acknowledge it. He wants to cling to the small chance that there's some other kind of explanation besides the worst case scenario. It's distinctly possible that Naruto rubbed off on him more than he'd like to think.

The murky, almost metallic scent of stagnant water and damp stone fills his nose with a rush, and Kurama grimaces, already knowing what he'll see even as he opens his eyes. Darkness surrounds him, lit only by guttering torches on the walls, and he's standing in ankle-deep water. There are bars in front of him, all too familiar, but the door of the cage stands open, the seal torn right down the center. Beyond the bars, where there was once a blank stone wall—and, Sage, how many years did Kurama spend staring at it, until he knew every slight variation of color or texture by heart?—there are instead nine openings cut into the rock, each wide and tall enough for even Kurama in his bijuu form to pass through.

Well. That's clear enough, isn't it?

Kurama wades through the murky water, thankfully feeling only stone under his bare feet, and pauses for a moment in front of the doors, testing. Each one carries a familiar taste of chakra, from the mirror-image sense of rage and fire on the far left to Shukaku's blood-wet sand on the far right. Isobu's power is muted, buried, and Kurama doesn't want to think about what that means for his sibling caught so firmly by Obito's damned eyes, but Saiken's chakra is clean and clear, as bright and bubbly as ever. For a moment Kurama debates the sixth passage, thinks of trying to find Saiken and warning him that they're coming, but…

There. Like a murmur in a room full of loud voices, there's just a trace of familiar chakra. Cold but burning, as eerie as a ghost beneath the full moon, and Kurama jerks around, bolting for the second tunnel without a second thought. He slips on the slick stone, only just managing to stay upright, catches himself on the smooth wall and hurls himself around the corner, and—

There's a loud yelp in a voice besides his own, a confused flurry of motion, and a sharp jerk on the back of his haori. Kurama blinks his eyes open in the real world to find himself on the very edge of the hill where the ground drops away, poised to leap. Momiji is holding him back, teeth clamped on the hem of his haori and feet planted.

"Oh," Kurama says dumbly, and then, when that familiar sense of chakra whirls past him like an errant breeze again, "Oh. Momiji, knock it off, I'm fine, but I have to go."

Carefully, Momiji extracts his teeth from thick cloth and says dubiously, "You're going to leave three kids on their own? Out here?"

"I'm not leaving," Kurama says in annoyance. "Don't you feel that? The Nibi is down there!"

There's every chance that it's a trap. Every chance that this is Akatsuki, or Kumo's forces, or anyone else who could be using Matatabi to lure him out. But there's also a slim chance that it's not, and Kurama owes it to his sister in all her aggravating, cunning glory to at least check.

Momiji pauses for a long moment, then huffs and crouches down. He shrinks dramatically as he does so, sliding from the size of a horse to the size of a regular fox, and then promptly hurls himself right into Kurama's arms. "I'm coming with you," he insists. "If you get into trouble on my watch, Fuji will never let me hear the end of it."

"Fine, but can we go now?" Kurama asks, annoyed, even as he shifts the reynard onto his shoulders. Clawed paws clutch at his shoulder, tightly enough that Kurama isn't worried about Momiji falling, and he takes that as an answer. Three long bounds carry him over the edge of the hill and down, towards the thickly forested ground at its base. Kurama can't sense any malice within his range, not even the usual flickers of irritation that would accompany most humans trekking through the woods at midnight, and he can't take that as anything but a good sign. The Akatsuki members are almost permanently aggravated, after all, and even the more even-tempered ones have an undercurrent of rage to them. When he's looking, there's no way that Kurama could miss them.

Matatabi's chakra urges him onward, around the edge of the hill and deeper into the forest. There's enough undergrowth to make moving hard, but the branches above aren't quite sturdy enough to carry his weight, so Kurama grits his teeth and pushes through, trying not to make too much noise.

"Matatabi, you smug witch," he hisses, voice low enough that only jinchuuriki ears should pick it up. "Where the hell are you?"

From up ahead, where moonlight glitters off the surface of a small, rush-choked pond, there's a small sound that's quickly bitten off. Kurama stiffens, going still as he listens, and Momiji's ears brush his jaw as the fox lifts his head and does the same.

"That was pain," Momiji murmurs.

It was, and unease twists through Kurama's stomach, making him grimace. It takes a lot to hurt a jinchuuriki, and even more to hurt a bijuu. If something has managed it…

He takes a breath and slips through the last of the brush, minding his steps to keep them soundless even in the thick undergrowth. The trees spread out around the edge of the pond, making a tiny clearing, and on the far side of it, something moves. Shadows shift as the figure slides between trunks, then pauses, and Kurama realizes that whatever happens next, he's going to have to make the first move. Whoever that is over there, they're not planning to come out until Kurama shows himself.

It's stupid. It's incredibly stupid, but—

But this is Matatabi, the least objectionable of all of Kurama's siblings, and that's definitely her chakra trickling out into the midnight air. Whether it means she's escaped with her host, or by herself, or is being used as bait by someone, Kurama can't leave her if she needs his help.

Damn it. His Naruto has a lot to answer for, making him this soft.

"Matatabi?" Kurama asks, stepping out into the faint moonlight. "That you, you damn cat?"

There's a long, long pause, and then the figure in the darkness moves again. It slips forward, out of the shadows, and the starlight catches on pale blond hair matted with blood and drying mud, on a battered hitai-ate marked with Kumo's symbol. Small hands lose their grip on the smooth bark of a tree as the figure tumbles forward, and Kurama leaps forward without even having to think, clearing the pond in a single bound and catching the young girl as she falls.

"Yugito," he says, somewhere between astonished and unspeakably relieved. And…she's young, so much younger than when he saw her as one of Obito's Rinnegan puppets, battered and scraped with her hair falling loose and tangled around her face, but it's unmistakably her. Matatabi's chakra covers her like a ragged cloak, dissipating as if it's fog before a stiff breeze, but despite the exhaustion and the fact that Yugito is healing at almost a normal rate rather than like the jinchuuriki she is, Matatabi is still curled up inside her soul. Akatsuki hasn't gotten ahold of either of them yet.

"Kurama?" Yugito rasps, barely audible. Dark eyes flicker from Kurama's face to the fox around his neck, and she sighs in wordless relief. "Matatabi said…you'd be shorter. Like Rōshi."

"Matatabi's a lying old witch," Kurama huffs, hooking an arm around Yugito's shoulders and helping her sit up. "What the hell are you doing so far from Kumo, kid?" Damn it, but she can't be much more than thirteen, and while that's a far sight better than being six, it's also not as old as Kurama had expected. Definitely not as old as he was hoping for when he planned to leave the kids with his lying little sneak of a sister.

"Mm." Yugito makes an effort to focus, pushing herself a little more upright in his hold and promptly hissing in pain, pressing a hand to her ribs. "Matatabi told me to find you. We were attacked while we were training, and—and my teachers were killed. She took over, but we couldn't win, so we ran. She said you were our best chance of surviving."

Which would explain why Kurama couldn't find Matatabi earlier, if she had exhausted her chakra and was trying to conserve it. But to make Matatabi use that much of her strength, it had to have been Akatsuki that went after her. Kurama fights down the growl that tries to bubble up in his chest and asks, "You remember who jumped you, kitten?"

The nickname gets him a startled glance, but Yugito doesn't pause to think as she answers, "There were seven of them, six with the same eyes and a woman with blue hair. They said my power would help them save the world."

"Rule it, more like," Kurama mutters, raking a hand through his hair. Fuck. Pein and Konan, then, which means Akatsuki really has started collecting the bijuu. Not that they'll have an easy time finding any but Saiken and Isobu, at this point. If Yugito was attacked, Bee is either on Turtle Island, safe behind the wards for at least a little while, or being kept close to the Raikage. Akatsuki won't risk attacking a village as strong as Kumo just yet; with so many gaps in their ranks they simply don't have the power. A is a formidable opponent, and when he's working with Bee, who's fully allied with his bijuu, even the Six Paths of Pein won't stand much of a chance. Matatabi had mentioned something about Yugito training in the mountains, and given the proximity to Akatsuki's base, that's probably why they tried to grab her first.

Well. It's a good thing Kurama still has Kiri as a back-up plan. It also has the added advantage of being just about the last place Obito will expect them to turn up, since it's practically under his nose. And by the time he thinks to look there, Kurama will be in position to thoroughly distract him by smashing the Gedō Mazō.

Since there's only one thing to do now, Kurama shifts back onto his heels, then slides his free arm under Yugito's knees and rises fully to his feet, picking her up as carefully as he's able. "Come on," he says gruffly. "We've got a camp on the other side of the hill. I'm not good at medical jutsus, but we've got some bandages and I can at least transfer some of my chakra to you. That should help Matatabi get back on her feet."

Those small, tanned hands jerk up, curling into the edge of his haori, and Yugito looks down. The tips of her ears are slightly flushed, and Kurama can all but feel her embarrassment, edged with a slight hint of shame. "Thank you," she forces out.

Kurama doesn't look at her. "Nothing to be embarrassed about," he huffs, heading back into the forest. "Matatabi and I are family. You're her family, more or less, so you might as well be mine, right? And this is what family does."

The death-grip on his haori eases just a little, and the flush fades. Dark eyes study him carefully for a moment before Yugito nods sharply. There are lines of exhaustion in her face, cuts and scrapes everywhere, bruises like painful shadows on her bare arms and the curve of her jaw, but her poise is coming back. Some of the tightness eases from her shoulders, sliding away, and she gives in to her weariness enough to let her head rest against Kurama's shoulder. Momiji noses her hair, and she smiles, if only slightly.

"I don't remember my family," she admits softly.

"Doesn't matter," Kurama tells her. "Family's what you make of it."

This time, her smile is much easier to see. "I…I think I like that idea."