Chapter 2

Light and shadow performed an intricate dance on the wall as the torches flickered. The very mobility of the flame suggested that the stonewalls weren't as solid as they looked, not if a draft had found its way in. Besides the soft pop and crackle of the torches, the room was very quiet. The only other sound in attendance required a straining of ears: soft breaths, a gentle inhalation, followed by a slightly more forceful exhalation.

And by listening even more closely, those with keen hearing would discern not one person breathing, but two.

On a bed bracketed by the flickering torches lay two figures. One was smaller with spiky blond hair, and the other was larger with hair very similar in style, though the color was red. They lay close, both curled on their side facing each other, though neither was quite touching. Eyes still closed, the smaller one murmured something and shifted, inching forward unconsciously, as if even in sleep he was seeking the other. He stilled, and for several minutes both figures lay motionless, breathing softly.

Then the bigger form stirred. Dark eyelashes fluttered and parted, revealing an elongated pupil slashing though an iris of pooling blood. The eyes focused slowly, staring without any real comprehension at the blond child sleeping inches away. Awareness came slowly, and heated confusion gradually replaced sleepy contentment. The little human looked familiar, but why? He didn't know many humans, only those that he had ripped apart or those that had . . . trapped . . . him . . .

A memory surfaced, a confusing plethora of darkness and rage. There were bars, not made out of metal or stone or anything physical, and on the other side there had been this boy.

The seal. His fleshy prison.

The Kyubi snarled. Legs gathering underneath himself, he loomed over the blond. Oh, he recognized him now, all right. This boy had taken away his freedom. He had been confined with nothing but this child and his own rage to keep him company. He would shred the human's skin, make a meal out of his intestines, and do all that he had not been able to do before. He would be free.

He bent down over his unsuspecting prey, growling at such a low pitch that it was nearly inaudible to human ears. The fox demon's jaw opened as he hovered over Naruto's vulnerable throat.

Then he paused.

Kyubi stopped in confusion and sniffed the side of the boy's face. Strange. He didn't smell like prey.

The demon shifted suddenly. His body felt wrong, still strong, still fast, but not nearly as streamlined. He lifted a paw, and then stared. He still had claws, but the rest wasn't as it should be. His hand (for that's what it was) was fine-boned and flexible, not at all like the sturdy forepaw built for running and tearing that it had been. The Kyubi glanced up. On the far wall was a mirror, obvious and usefully placed, and so he got to his feet and padded over to it.

He stared in bewilderment. Then, experimentally, he snarled.

His reflection snarled back, proving that it was, indeed, his body.

He looked human.

The red-haired demon shivered. He felt so strange, so much softer, and weirdly smooth. Light hair dusted his arms and legs, not the thick protective fur he had come to expect, and he's standing on two legs, not four.

Only some things point to what he once was. The eyes, the teeth, three whisker-scars on each cheek, and the way his hair spikes in a way that suggests fur. It was wrong. Very, very wrong.

"It must feel strange."

The voice is melodious and female, and the fox-human whirls around with a snarl on his lips. Claws extend, and he gathers himself to leap, first instinct to attack.

She smiles, and he recoils. Not from the sharp teeth almost threateningly displayed, but from the sense of power. Her energy doesn't dance and fizzle like his or human chakra, it envelopes like shadow and darkness. His instincts flare up in warning. She's strong, and not the kind of strong that he can fight. She's beyond him.

The Kyubi takes a careful step back, unconsciously moving closer to the boy out cold on the bed. She turns her head slightly, so that it looks like she's regarding them both. "You've been trapped for a long time, and you probably expected freedom to feel different." She glides forward slowly, eyes blank star fields, before finally stopping in front of the bed. The fox-demon's lips curl back instinctively, and he suddenly has to fight the urge to spring forward and snatch the boy away from her. She's standing too close.

Her head turns, and it seems she's looking down at Naruto, studying him. Her lips curve slightly in something that stops just short of a smile. "I see you were both affected by your forced partnership." The fox-demon regards her wearily, than reluctantly shifts his attention to the boy, though he keeps one eye on her. His instincts are telling him to not turn his back.

Now that he looks closer, it seems that the smell isn't the only thing about the human that has changed. The whisker-scars on his cheeks look deeper, and when he sighs softly in sleep the edge of a fang peaks out. And his fingers have sprouted claws.

The Kyubi can't help but compare his new body to the boy's. Dark gold lashes flutter, and he suddenly wonders what color his eyes are now. Are they red like his? The fox-demon casts another wary look at the woman. She, obviously, knows things. For the first time, he speaks. "He smells like kindred." The demon's voice is rough and deep, and he surprises himself with the sound. It's strange how easily everything in this new body is coming to him. It's different, but he seems to have an instinctive knowledge of how it all works. He glares at her. "Why?"

The question could mean any number of things, and it probably does, but she takes it in regards to his previous statement. "Once demon," her head tilts back toward Naruto, "once human, and now both, and neither."

It's cryptic as hell, and the Kyubi takes an angry step forward, forgetting the danger for the moment. "What did you do to me?"

"Let you out. It's not my concern that what I let out isn't what went in." The last is said dismissively, and she flips her hair lightly and spins on her heel to the exit. Then she stops and pauses in the doorway, not bothering to turn around to face him. "You should be grateful. You're not as alone in this world as the rest of us." And with that parting shot, she leaves. The door slams behind her without her having to touch it at all.

The fox-demon lets out a frustrated noise and runs to the door, slamming his body against it. The frame shakes, and he knows that if he applied just a little more force he could easily break the damn thing down. There's just one problem.

That woman is on the other side.

He's angry, but not enough to challenge someone with her power. He hasn't survived as long as he has (in various forms) by taking stupid chances.

Filled with heated energy, the Kyubi prowls around the room. He learns every niche and cranny, before finally turning back to the thing he's been trying to avoid.

The boy.

His prison. A symbol of everything that irritates him about humanity.

His kin.

Whatever else the woman is, she's not a liar, at least not about this. He can feel that it's true. The boy, Naruto (he couldn't live inside someone for sixteen years without learning his name) was like him. He didn't really smell human anymore, or demon for that matter, but he smelled familiar.

Once again, he idly wonders what color the blonde's eyes are.

The fox-demon sends one last irritated glare at the door, and then he crawls up onto the bed. He settles himself comfortable, and then wraps an arm around the boy's body. He sighs softly, the breath of air stirring the wisps of blond at the base of Naruto's neck. Suddenly, the demon's tired. He snuggles a bit more firmly, than allows his eyelids to droop shot. For now, he'll lay low. The Kyubi's instincts tell him that answers will come to him if he just has patience.

And if there's one thing a fox does, it's always follow his instincts.

A furtive rattling noise wakes Naruto. Sleepily, he opens blurry eyes.

A familiar looking rat-creature is carefully setting down a tray of foodstuffs. The pointed nose jerks slightly and then quivers as he realizes he's being studied. Little feet scurry suddenly, and the creature bolts out of sight. Naruto can hear a door closing softly, telling him that the timid thing has left the room.

With single-minded focus, the blond stares at the tray of food. He's warm and comfortable, but something seems off. He feels like there's something he should remember, but . . . his stomach growls hungrily.

A deep, rumbling chuckle vibrates against his back.

Suddenly, he's aware of the body pressed up against his. His eyes widen. An alarmed shout escapes, and Naruto bolts from the bed, racing to the other side of the room with ninja speed and narrowly avoiding knocking over the tray of food. With the wall at his back, he turns and stares.

There's a strange naked man on the bed.

Naruto gawks, and suddenly, with a strange feeling of forbidding, glances down at his own body. All he's wearing is a pair of orange boxers.

Okay, don't panic, so he's been sleeping, almost as bare as the day he was born, with some strange guy. The blond scrunches up his face in concentration. Rigght, like he's not going to worry about this. And even worse, there are disturbing gaps in his memory. He can't remember how he got here, in this situation, with . . . wait a minute, who is this guy?

He turns and looks uncertainly. The redheaded man stretches, regarding Naruto lazily. He shifts slightly, the movement leaving certain parts indecently exposed, then he grins hugely.

Naruto's face is hot he's blushing so bad. Even someone as inexperienced as he can tell that that wasn't an accident. Quickly, he averts his eyes, and then points a shaking finger. "Pervert!" His voice squeaks in a way it hasn't since puberty. "Just who the hell are you?!"

There's a deep chuckle from the bed. Naruto braves a quick glance. The man looks terribly amused, and then he suddenly jumps up, the movements fluid and entirely inhuman. He gracefully strides forward, deliberately stalking the boy, like a predator on the prowl for dinner. Naruto began to back away.

"You're eyes are blue."

The voice sent shivers up the blonde's spine, and Naruto replied defensively. "Yeah, what of it?"

The man didn't answer, just smiled secretly. "You don't recognize me?"

"I think I'd remember meeting someone as weird looking as you!"

The redhead chuckled, and Naruto backed away a little faster. "Not the brightest star in the sky, are you? I suppose that shouldn't surprise me, that's the impression I got before too. All bravado, no brains. Then again, in your defense, we've never talked quite like this before either."

Naruto was running out of room, a couple more steps and his back was going to hit the wall, and he'd be trapped. Looking around wildly, he saw the door on the other side of the room. Of course, to get to it, he'd have to pass the bed, and the creep stalking him . . .

The blond glared fiercely. "Weirdo! Stay over there you naked pervert!" Suddenly he launched himself across the bed, employing an extra burst of chakra to increase his speed.

He was moving fast, but the red-haired guy somehow moved faster.

Naruto was tackled on the bed, shrieking and swearing all the while. This guy wasn't just fast; he was strong.

Really strong.

Finally, he succeeded in pinning Naruto down. He loomed over the boy and grinned hugely. Naruto stared up at him, wide eyed. With this kind of proximity he could see every feature of the guy's face clearly. He gulped. "Wow, you've got some sharp teeth there. I bet you're a vegetarian, right?" The last is said hopefully. The toothy grin got wider, and he leaned down closer to the blond, and Naruto began to mumble. "Please be a vegetarian . . ."

The guy stops and looks at him. "Relax, I wouldn't eat you. As its been pointed out to me recently, that would be an awful lot like cannibalism."

Naruto blinked up at him. "Huh?" He said eloquently.

Strong, inhumanly strong, arms lift him from the bed. Naruto's surprised enough that he doesn't struggle, and by the time he remembers that he probably should they're standing in front of a mirror. "Look."

Naruto does.

Two people stand in the reflective surface, the taller one has a restraining arm around the blond one. Naruto looks closer, and sees that the creature behind him has claws. Involuntarily, his hand comes up and he blinks as he gets a good comparative look. His hand has claws too. Naruto stares at his own face. It's still him, but there are changes. The whisker-scars on his cheeks are deeper and wider, there are sharp, pointy fangs in his mouth, and his hair is even spikier than usual. His eyes are still blue, but if he looks carefully he can see that the pupil has changed, thinned and elongated.

His eyes fly to the creature holding him. Red eyes shift and meet his own, and then the head shifts downward to whisper in his ear. "Interesting similarities, don't you think?"

Suddenly, the arm around Naruto's waste tightens as the redhead swivels around. Seconds later, the door opens and in walks a woman. "Ah, both awake I see." Her voice is amused as she takes in their (rather compromising) position.

Naruto wiggles out of the strange guy's grasp, which has become a tiny bit looser with the inclusion of company. He's suddenly very much aware of his lack of clothing, and he quick snatches up a blanket from the bed, wrapping it around himself. He's blushing madly, but the other guy doesn't seem at all concerned with his nakedness.

After getting the blanket arranged to his satisfaction, Naruto turns and looks up. Accidentally, he catches the lady's eyes.

Drowning in dark star fields.

With a gasp, he wrenches his gaze away. Suddenly, all his memories come rushing back. "You're that freaky chick with the alter and stuff. You said . . ." Naruto's hand goes to his belly, and then his eyes shift to the red haired man in sudden comprehension. "And then you're . . ." He can't finish his sentence, too shocked by the realization.

The Kyubi grins widely and claps. "You mean you've finally figured it out?" He snorts in amusement. "Took you long enough."

Naruto stares, all wide eyes. This is the fox-demon? He doesn't really look like he would expect. Naruto had seen his form in his mind when he bullied the creature into borrowing him chakra. And this was definitely not it. Even stranger, Naruto's not afraid. Disturbed and wary, yes. Embarrased as hell from when the demon came on to him? Certainly. But he wasn't really afraid of him.

Keeping one suspicious eye on the fox, Naruto turns to look at the woman (though not into her eyes). "So then, who the hell are you?"

"Yes, I'd like to know that too."

Naruto shifts his gaze to the demon, confused. "You mean you don't know this lady? I thought she was an old buddy of yours or something."

The Kyubi snorts. "You really are an idiot."

Naruto bristles. "Am not! What am I supposed to think! She's the one that let you out!"

The fox decides to ignore this, even though the blond has a point. "Well woman, I think we deserve an explanation."

"You treat Our Lady with respect." The capitals in the title are obvious, and the huge, misshapen guy who steps out from behind the woman is even more obvious. Naruto wonders how he overlooked him before. It's the same guy that carried Naruto down the hallway, right before the nine-tailed fox and him were split.

Speaking of the fox, Naruto turns and looks at him. The demon is smiling nastily at the big man. "Why?" He asks insolently.

The huge guy steps toward him in an obvious threat, hefting a spiked club in his hands suggestively. The Lady halts his forward motion, simply by raising a hand. "Calm down Shale." She turns a pointy smile onto the fox, and then glides forward towards him.

The Kyubi takes several quick steps back. He hadn't even flinched when the big guy had started to advance, but this Lady was a different story. He's much more wary (afraid, really, if he's honest) of her. She notices the motion and stops, holding her hands out in a calming gesture.

"I just thought I could give you a tour. It would make explanations so much easier." She gestures to the door, obviously wanting them to precede her. But the Kyubi is still looking wary, and Naruto's looking vaguely horrified.

The blond is the one to speak up first. "I'm not going out like this!" He points to his blanket clad form, then points at the very nude fox-demon. "And he can't go out like that!"

The Kyubi gives Naruto a puzzled look. "Why not?"

The ninja's jaw drops. "Fox-pervert! You can't walk around without any clothes on!"

While the demon is scratching his head in continued confusion, the lady makes a mollifying gesture at Naruto. "Don't worry. Shale, would you please go find some clothes for these two?"

The misshapen head nods in quick agreement, though he continues to eye the boy and fox with distrust. "Yes Lady." He sends them one last suspicious look and then ambles out the door.

Thirty minutes later both of them are clothed decently, though the demon still seemed vaguely bewildered about the fuss. They follow the Lady and her giant minion up a bunch of stone steps. And up, and up. Naruto's feeling rather impatient by the time they reach the top.

The Lady leads them out onto what must be the roof. The stone underneath their feet is worn and weather scarred, the sun beats brightly down. Naruto squints and then stares. There is stone all around, just like in his room, but here in the outside environment it's dotted with lichen and moss. The rock seems to grow out of the hill, taking the forms of towers and roofs, a whole town carved into the vista. Barely, he can make out tiny figures going about their business, cooking, playing, and fighting. And if he looks harder he can see that none of these people are normal. There, three children are playing, one has frog-features, one has butterfly wings, and the last is covered head-to-toe in a featureless brown cloak. To his right and slightly below a women no taller than three feet is barbecuing something on an outside grill. A one-eyed man looks on.

It's the same all over. Some look more human than others, but they are all, unmistakably, different.

The Lady smiles, then she extends her arm out to the panorama around them. "Welcome, to Sanctuary."