Naruto looked at her from his crouched position and grinned. "I'll do that, or maybe someday you can visit me."
The little girl's eyes widened. "You mean, out there?" She squeaked.
"Sure, why not? I'll keep anyone from giving you any trouble. All three of you could come!" He gestured behind her at Kouichi and Takahiro, both of who were staring at him with equally wide eyes, (or at least the frog-boy was, Naruto wasn't even sure if the cloaked kid had a face, let alone eyes). They seemed happy to let her do the talking. It seemed she really was the leader, though Naruto knew better then to say that out loud.
"Wow," Kita breathed, staring up at him with amazement. With a grin, Naruto reached out and ruffled her hair before straightening up to face the Lady. Beside her, Shikamaru was having what looked like an earnest conversation with Kameko. The tree-woman's bark covered arms gestured here and there as they talked.
The Lady looked at him, expression serious. "Are you sure you want to go back? You are welcome to stay here."
Naruto smiled and shook his head. "Nah, Konoha is my home. Though I think I'm going to leave out the stuff about the demon fox getting out in the mission report."
The Lady's mouth quirked, though she didn't seem surprised by his answer.
The three ninjas had stayed in Sanctuary for the last couple days, helping the citizens recover from the near takeover. There had been dead to bury and children to reassure. Because they had helped save Sanctuary, the Lady had agreed to let them leave if they swore an oath to never tell any humans about the place. They had agreed, realizing that Sanctuary was the only place for most of the people here. Skikamaru had even suggested that they bring back a wolf carcass to convince the villagers that there were no monsters in the Moonshadow hills, though this would require that the denizens of Sanctuary be a bit more careful in the future. And so they had spoken the oath, and Naruto suspected that there had been more to this oath than just words, he had felt the tingle of something through his body as he had spoke the necessary phrases.
And so they had said their oath and helped the people of Sanctuary get everything back in order. Even the demon-fox had helped, though Naruto hadn't seen much of him the past few days. Though he had seen Sasuke go off with him briefly and have what seemed like an intense conversation. The Sharingan-user didn't really seem to know what to do with Kyubi after he had saved all their lives, so Naruto had been a little anxious to see them talking. Still Sasuke had returned from the conversation looking thoughtful, and the blond was just dying to know what they had talked about. However, badgering Sasuke about it had only gotten him an amused shake of the head and a softly spoken "dobe." The Kyubi had been just as reticent on the subject.
Speaking of pervert-fox . . .
Naruto scanned their send off crowd, and then frowned as he realized Kyubi wasn't among the throng. Surprisingly enough, the fox-demon had decided to stay behind in Sanctuary. Naruto had had mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, keeping the fox away from temptation was probably a good thing, he was still pretty pissed at the village for sealing him, and it would be very bad if he decided he still wanted revenge. On the other hand, Naruto was - at least a little - going to miss the pervert-fox.
Of course, not having Kyubi around was going to make things a lot less confusing.
Even if Sasuke was acting all weird now - it definitely hadn't been a good idea to let them talk uninterrupted.
Still, Naruto wished stupid pervert-fox was around so that he could at least say goodbye.
"Come on, dobe, it's time to go." Sasuke said.
Naruto started a little to realize him and Shikamaru had already started to walk away into the forest. The blond did one less sweep of the crowd, hoping for an appearance by the Kyubi, but he was nowhere to be found. With a sigh, Naruto places his foot on the first step of the stairs leading out of Sanctuary's entrance.
"Oi, what is this? Live inside someone for sixteen years and they just leave without saying goodbye?"
Naruto spun around with a sudden grin. "Pervert-fox! You came!"
Kyubi snorted, and strode forward to stand with in inches of him. "Course I did."
They stared at each other for a moment, both grinning slightly. Then Kyubi glanced behind Naruto at Sasuke, who, though he was standing still with his arms crossed, somehow managed to look impatient. The fox's grin gained a naughty tint, and suddenly he reached out and yanked Naruto to him. After he had the boy close, he reached down and gently lifted the blonde's chin to stare into very wide blue eyes.
He bent down and kissed him
It was a gentle kiss, until Kyubi licked across his closed lips and coaxed them open. Then it got wet and passionate. Naruto moaned softly.
Suddenly, the fox pushed Naruto away, and the boy shrieked as he toppled off the stairs . . .
And right into Sasuke's arms. The blond peered up at his teammate with some surprise, then shook himself and screamed. "Pervert-fox!"
The demon leered, then looked with some seriousness at Sasuke. "Make sure he stays out of trouble," he said finally.
"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" They both ignored him.
The dark-haired ninja studied Kyubi in return, than he shrugged. "I always do," he returned, with a vaguely annoyed grunt.
Naruto looked at them both quizzically, then he shook himself again and waved at Kyubi. "Bye pervert-fox!" The ninjas started to walk away.
"Hey Naruto!" For once it wasn't brat or kid, just his name. The blond stopped and turned around, looking questioningly at the fox. Beside him, he could feel Sasuke do the same. "Don't get too comfortable without me. I'll be sure to visit you soon." The fox said, voice wicked. Then he leered.
Naruto looked at the leering demon, and suddenly blushed, fiercely.
Beside him, Sasuke glanced at the blond, and took in the red face. Then he shot a near-murderous glare at Kyubi, and grabbed Naruto's arm. The blond broke his embarrassed – yet half-mesmerized – stare at the fox, and looked questioningly at him. "Sasuke, what . . ."
Using the grip on his arm, Sasuke shot one last glare behind him, and then forcefully dragged Naruto from the demon's presence. Shikamaru followed bemusedly, though not before lazily waving at Kameko and the others who had watched the whole drama play out. The three ninjas disappeared from sight.
Kyubi stared after them thoughtfully, then his face broke out into a sharp toothed grin. "Yep," he mused. "I'll definitely be seeing you soon."
Ahead of him, still being dragged along by Sasuke, Naruto sneezed.
Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys have been really great; I didn't expect the response I got for this story. Now lets all spread the Kyubi-love. Go on. Shoo.