"Guardian of the Fox"

Chapter 2

"Someone who needs you."

Hagoromo floated towards the broken soul, careful not to hit any of the freshly forming souls on his way.

"Greetings." He said, once he was close enough, in the man's native language. "My name is Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo. I am here to-"

"Anata wa watashi no tame ni hon'yaku suru hitsuyō wa arimasen." The man's voice said, cutting the other off with perfect Japanese. "Nihongo wa watashi no shuyōna gengode wa arimasenga, watashi wa sore ga sukunakutomo sore ni kan'nōdearu to shinjitaidesu.*"

The Sage blinked for a second, caught by surprise, before gracing the Purgatory with booming laughter.

"So you are." He said, purple eyes twinkling with mirth. "Though I appreciate the thought, I fear a chance to use your native language will not arrive nearly fast enough, so allow me to stick to it for now."

Silver-blue eyes peeked from under the red fringe, staring up at the strange looking god; taking in his strange paleness, strange looking purple eyes, the long horns sticking out of his head, blank eyes, and the fact that he was floating..

The Sage felt the silence was begging to be uncomfortable so he cleared his throat.

"As I was saying, I am here to make you an offer."

"I am not interested in any offers." Those sharp orbs closed and looked away.

"Ah… but you might be once I explain everything."

The man snorted.

"You have nothing I could possibly want."

"Oh?" Hagoromo smiled. "Are you quite sure? What if I told you, I have the power to give you a chance to redeem yourself?"

The human's red head suddenly snapped towards him, a sparkle of hope lighting the dull orbs before going out just as quickly as it appeared.

"Nothing you propose will ever atone for the atrocities I've committed." Mycroft whispered, arms tightening around his knees. "Even if you sent me back to a time where everything was… normal, it wouldn't change anything."

"And why is that?" The god asked, genuinely curious. Usually people begged for a chance to go back and right the wrongs they committed, believing that if they just 'hadn't done that one thing' or 'said those words', none of the tragedies would happen.

In all that frantic begging, they forgot about one very important thing concerning destiny.

The fact that no matter what you do to prevent something from happening, it will still occur. One way or another.

Destiny won't change just because you prevented an event from happening at its scheduled time.

It is patient, it can wait.

If not today perhaps tomorrow, or in five days… a month.

You can't stop it. Nothing can.

And it seems that Hagoromo's new friend understood that.

"If I had to… I'd do it all over again." He said seriously. "I just can't see any other way…"

The Sage nodded his head sadly.

"You fear that, had you brought her back as a child, your parents would continue ignoring her murderous tendencies and more lives would be lost."

"I wouldn't be able to stop her." Mycroft's voice was shaking. "Even as an adult I couldn't. Not for good."

"It had to happen." The Sage said, tone firm. "For such was her path to take."

"While a part of me wants to believe you're telling the truth." The red haired man admitted quietly. "Another can't shake the feeling that there was something I could have done to make all that occurred, a little less painful for everyone involved."

"From what I've heard it wasn't your choice to lock your sister up, and lie to your parents about her condition." Hagoromo countered. "That remains on your uncle's plate."

"What kind of a older brother goes along with it?" Mycroft's voice was bitter.

"A responsible one."

The Holmes snorted.

"Liar."

"Would you rather react like any other human would in your place, and kill her?"

"Why would anyone-"

"She was a danger." The Sage explained. "A murderer that would only get more creative in her schemes as she got older. A walking time bomb, just waiting to explode." He then locked his strange purple orbs on Mycroft's icy-blue ones.

"Do you honestly believe anyone else would leave her alive?"

The man had no answer to that, he just looked away.

Hagoromo's eyes softened.

"Had you been the monster you claim to be, you wouldn't allow her to live another day, only to one day reappear in your family's life and threaten everything you swore to protect."

"I was her big brother." Mycroft's small voice said. "I was responsible for her."

"Perhaps that's part of the reason why neither her nor her brother ever grew up." The Sage suggested quietly. "They didn't have to take responsibility for their actions because you always did that for them, always bailed them out of trouble...always took the blame."

Silence answered his little speculation.

Wanting to take the man's mind away from other reasons to blame everything on himself, the god cleared his throat.

"Regardless, let us go back to the offer I was going to present to you." Not waiting for the human to answer Hagoromo continued. "While there is no way for you to change what happened to your family, as their destinies have already been foretold, and you are part of the same timeline... there is a world out there where, having you weaved into the timeline, could save a little boy from years of unjustified abuse."

That caught the man's attention.

Immediately the broad shoulders squared, and sharp blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

The Sage smiled under his nose.

If there was one thing he knew the elder Holmes brother will never stand for, it was child abuse.

He waved a pale hand and an orb showing little Naruto Uzumaki laying on the ground curled up in a ball, being beat up by both adults and children, appeared before the soul.

"He could use a big brother like you."

The only response he got…

Was the sound of hands being curled into fists.


Naruto was having a bad day.

The son of the Fourth Hokage was waiting for the kick he saw coming before he closed his blue eyes. Arms tightening around his blond head, and knees pressing harder against his tiny chest.

But…

To his astonishment…

It never came.

Instead, he heard the loud crack of a fist colliding with a jawbone and the dull thud of a body landing quite heavily on the floor.

Huh? He thought, opening one of his baby-blue eyes to see what happened.

What appeared before his eyes was something he never thought would ever happen.

Somebody actually stood up for him.

A boy, one he could tell was two maybe three years older than him with short red hair, stood in front of him. Hands clenched into fists, his body separating Naruto from his attackers.

"What the hell man?!" The Uzumaki looked over to his previous assaulter, who was on his arse rubbing his cheek where the newcomer's fist collided with his face.

"Leave." Naruto shivered from the coldness of the older boy's voice. "Or you will end up with something more fatal than a punch in the face."

The villager growled and promptly stood up.

"Look, kid, you're needlessly getting into something that doesn't involve you." He said. "Step away from the demon child and we'll forget this ever happened."

For a single, terrifying, solitary second Naruto thought his unexpected protector will actually do as he was told, but all he did was get his body in a more offensive position.

"I'm not going anywhere." The boy said, his voice frighteningly calm. "And, if you're unlucky enough…"

Naruto could see the villager's bravado falter when he heard what the other kid said next.

"Neither will you."

To any outsiders, the day Naruto was having was one of the worst. First he overslept and was late for class, with Iruka-sensei yelling at him for that, and then the ambush on his way home.

But, if one was to ask the child himself…

He would have said this was the best day of his life.


AN: Has anyone noticed that I hate Eurus? Because I hate Eurus. Very much.

Translation for the Japanese part:

*You don't have to translate for me. While Japaneses isn't my main language, I like to believe I'm at least proficient in it.