"Talking"
"Demon Talking"
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 23: Mother's Care, Brother's Err
There were some words that came to mind when Kurama thought of his brother: obnoxious, irksome, ridiculous, idiotic, rambunctious, etc. However, insane had never been one of them.
That first day that Kit had met with his brother's container, he had felt the insanity emanating from the jinchuuriki. It was crazy, literally. He had never seen his brother in such a state of internal torment before. There had to be, just had to be, some reason that his brother was acting like a killing lunatic. Kurama would not accept that his brother had stooped so low that he was coercing the pure soul of a child to kill for his own pleasure.
As he stumbled through the sandstorm that seemed to get stronger the longer he walked, he knew he was getting closer to the place where his brother lay dormant in his jinchuuriki's mind. Kurama, for the longest time, was stuck in a cage in a dark cave, but considering the seal that was holding his brother back, the tanuki was probably in something much less restraining than a cave.
An outcrop came into view, and he saw that the rock formation was large – large enough to hold a bijuu of their caliber. On closer inspection, he realized that it was like a coliseum and that the rock was actually more like an enclosing wall, with a narrow gap that a human, but not a bijuu, could walk through. He shook his head. What a wicked structure to trap his brother in. The truly depressing part was that his brother most likely had not realized that he was trapped in a structure that implied he fight for the rest of his life.
Approaching the gap, he noticed there was a guard, and that guard turned out to be a woman. It looked like a precious little thing with short brown hair and indigo eyes, and there was a pale-yellow scarf wrapped around its neck. Its clothing reminded Kurama of the garments he saw the humans in that sand village wear. Every time there was a loud crashing sound, the guard winced and summoned more sand to whirl around the top of the coliseum, willing whatever was inside to not escape.
Kurama stepped forward until he was practically face-to-face with the woman. Its eyes slightly widened since it was probably not used to seeing anyone else in the mindscape.
A soft voice spoke a bit more defensively than expected. "And who are you?"
"Kurama," he grunted. "I need to get in there." He pointed into the gap that led into the coliseum.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to." It stepped in front of the gap and spread its arms wide.
"And why not?" He bared his teeth, which must not have looked frightening enough because the guard did not budge.
"You, you are not human. I can tell. And you will release it. I cannot allow the demon to get to my son. I must protect Gaara from it." It looked prepared for a fight even though he could tell that it was only a chakra imprint, albeit a very strong one that could probably last for a century.
Kurama stared slightly blank eyed at the woman before he chuckled. That chuckle became louder until it frowned at him. "Have you ever actually been in there?"
Its eyes flicked back to look into the darkness of the gap. "Well… no. If I confront it directly, it will surely defeat me and leave this place." Indigo eyes stared forward once more.
Gesturing to the sandstorm behind him, Kurama asked, "And this is your doing?" It nodded in response. "And its purpose is to contain the demon in this area?" It nodded once more. "Well, I'll have to tell you that the sandstorm has spread to the rest of the mindscape. No doubt this is the demon's work to gain control of your son."
Shock spread across the guard's face, and it lowered its arms. "No… no that can't be true. But I infuse my chakra into Gaara's sand. He's always safe. I'm always protecting him."
"Your sand on the outside can never protect him from the demon in his head. I'm guessing you've never let your consciousness roam to the outside world since you've been busy containing the demon here."
"I never… I should've known the demon would do something like this. My poor Gaara." It curled its arm to clutch near its chest. This was apparently a gesture that humans in anguish did often.
If he were human, Kurama would have tried to comfort the mother. Instead, he just turned his head and focused on the anguish coming from within the battlefield. He needed to get in there. "I can fix this. Just let me through."
For the first time, the woman looked up at him with eyes full of hope rather than skepticism. It stepped aside and let him through. He could tell that it was hesitant, but its fragile state of mind only allowed it really one choice. Walking past it, Kurama entered into the coliseum.
He followed the light at the end of the tunnel and found himself in the arena, a place surprisingly devoid of sand. Everywhere he looked was hard rock. His brother needed sand in the same way a pig needed mud. Without it, his brother always felt naked. He needed to wrap himself in the grainy stuff. This place couldn't be good for his health and sanity.
However, the lack of sand wasn't the real issue. The real issue was the man who had a chain from its right shoulder that connected directly with his brother's stomach. What was that?
"YOU INSUFFERABLE WHELP." Ah, there was his brothers screeching voice that he definitely did not miss.
"Shut up demon," the man hissed. A sandy hand attempted to swat the man away.
"LET ME KILL YOU." A tail tried to stab the puny human.
However, it dodged neatly. "How the old coot withstood you for the rest of his measly life I will never understand."
That comment seemed to rile his brother up for reasons Kurama did not know. The sand tanuki stood up for the first time and began full on running towards the human.
"DO NOT SPEAK OF HIM THAT WAY." Oh, Kurama had never thought that his brother could gain attachment to any human, but the man seemed to strike a nerve of a sort.
Deciding to interfere with the battle which he assumed persisted endlessly in the container's mind, Kurama spoke. "Brother."
That got his brother's attention faster than you could say 'Old Man Sage.' The tanuki's eyes widened, and he came to a stop. He glared at Kurama. "WHO ARE YOU? YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER."
"But I am." Kurama walked up to the human man and grabbed the chain that was causing his brother pain. "You, puny mortal, are not worthy to leech off of my brother's chakra. Begone." It began sputtering incoherently as kitsune-bi burnt the chain away. The flames licked again the apparition as well, burning it away until Kurama could not feel the man's presence any longer.
Turning to face his brother, Kurama smiled. "Shukaku, it's been so long."
The only word that came out of the giant tanuki's mouth was "Who?"
He had forgotten how much of an idiot Shukaku was. Kurama unfurled his tails and allowed his ears to poke out of his red hair. That got his brother's attention. The tanuki itself poofed away and a short teenager, looking only a year or two older than Kit, stood before him. The only sign of Shukaku in the boy was the messy blond hair with blue streaks, the golden four-pointed star eyes with black sclerae, and the tail that popped out from behind.
"Kurama." Shukaku's lower lip trembled as he ran forward and latched onto Kurama like he was a lifeline. The wailing was intolerable. This was exactly why his brother was so irksome. A clawed hand ruffled the tanuki's hair.
"Get off Shukaku and quit your sobbing. You're a son of Old Man Sage for Sage's sake."
The boy sniffled a little longer until he finally pulled away. "I haven't seen you in so long."
Kurama couldn't help but smile just a little bit. "Yes. Now can you tell me what all of that was about."
Shukaku looked away in an embarrassed way. "That was my last container." Kurama raised an eyebrow. Jinchuuriki do not typically stick around after death. "He used a weird chain jutsu to seal me, and it caused him to follow me to this container."
"And you don't like him?" Kurama couldn't say that he liked his past containers either though.
"Nasty man. He insults Bunpuku." His brother being on a name-basis with a container was surprising. Shukaku must have attached himself to a human that was worth it. Kurama stayed silent since he wasn't about to pry.
"Do you think you could stop tormenting your current container?" Golden eyes glanced up at him in confusion. "Do you not know what you're doing to it?" A shake of the head was his response. Kurama couldn't help but sigh. "Come with me."
Holding Shukaku's hand like he was five in human years, the redhead led the blond out of the coliseum. While they were walking, Kurama willed away his tails and ears, and passing through the narrow tunnel without a word, they emerged to see the guard curled up on itself.
The way his brother lit up when he saw the sand brought a small smile to Kurama's face. Of course, that was the first thing he was excited for. Shukaku ran and dove into the sand, ignoring the fact that there was a sandstorm raging above.
The boy swam through sand like it was water and allowed it to slip through his claws happily. He called out, "Kurama, look! Sand!" with a big whoop and continued his sand-swimming.
Hollering out like that got the woman's attention, and her eyes snapped up first to his brother and then to him. "You handled the demon?"
Nodding in response, the redhead pointed to the blond currently doing the backstroke. "There's your demon."
The guard's eyes whipped back and forth between Kurama and Shukaku a few times before they settled on Shukaku's form. Surprise was written all over its face.
"Shukaku, come here!" The boy stumbled over with sand pouring out of his clothes. "Can you recall all of your escaped chakra?"
An adorable look of concentration came upon his brother's face as the sandstorm began to calm down. He could sense the waves of chakra reentering Shukaku's body. When all that was left was the woman's sandstorm that walled off the area, Shukaku burst into tears and clung onto Kurama's haori.
"My chakra did horrible things Kurama!" he wailed. Pointing a claw at the guard, he continued, "It possessed its chakra and claimed to be my container's mother." Poor Shukaku was so upset that he allowed small tanuki ears to pop out and sand to begin hardening around his body.
Kurama tried to calm him down the best he could. Stroking his brother's hair, he responded, "It'll be alright. It was just pulling a prank."
He heard a mutter like "Tanuki don't play evil pranks," but he ignored it in favor of petting his brother's sandy hair.
Red eyes met with indigo, and Kurama managed a smile for the human. "If you stop the sandstorm, we can go find your son." That sprang the mother into action. It dropped all the sand, and the desert become eerily quiet without the roaring winds.
Reaching out his senses, he easily located Kit without all of the chakra-infused grains in the air. Kurama hoisted his brother up in his arms and carried him off into the desert while the guard woman followed silently behind.
Updated: 25/5/20