Prologue

Kurt was walking in the woods, just wanting to be alone for a while. As he was walking along, he heard a small sound. It almost sounded like a whimper. He looked around for a moment until he saw a small mound of fire-colored fur. It took him a moment to realize it was a fox. "Hey there, little guy. What are you doing there? You should be in your den somewhere."

The fox looked up at him and Kurt was somewhat surprised by the clear blue eyes that looked back at him. Then the fox growled and backed away slightly. Kurt was surprised again by the fact that the fox hadn't run completely. Then he saw the blood that stained the ground.

Kurt crouched down so that the fox wouldn't be so intimidated by his size and tentatively held out a hand. "Don't worry. I can take care of your wounds for you. I won't hurt you and you can be back out here in no time. I don't know where your parents are, but you seem to have lost a lot of blood. Let me help." He spoke in a soft, calm voice designed to calm the small fox and had been inching closer as he spoke. Eventually, he was within reach of the fox, and waited calmly, still speaking soothingly.

The fox watched Kurt, but couldn't find anything but a desire to help in the boy's eyes. He tentatively lifted several of his tails to see how the boy would react.

Kurt's eyes widened when the fox moved several tails and seemed to be watching him. He blinked and realized that the fox was watching him. Probably trying to decide if he was trustworthy. "Well. You're obviously not a normal fox. You're too smart. I promise I won't hurt you. I can probably get you to wherever you belong if you want."

The fox looked at him for a long moment before finally swaying slightly and collapsing from exhaustion and blood-loss. Kurt barely managed to catch him before he hit the ground. He sighed slightly.

"Well, I better stop you from losing any more blood first. We are too far away from the Institute for it to wait. I just need something to bandage your wounds." As he spoke, he realized that he had no medical supplies with him. He considered the problem for a moment before setting the fox gently on the ground and taking off his shirt. It wasn't hard to spot the wound. It was a rather ugly-looking gash on his back leg.

Kurt calmly used his teeth to tear his shirt enough to tear some strips to use as bandages. He wrapped the wound and wrapped the fox with what was left of his shirt. "I hope you don't get worse because I 'ported with you, little one. You are badly hurt." He focused on the Infirmary at the Institute and teleported both of them there.

Not long after he was gone, a snake came out of the underbrush. It tasted the air and the blood that had soaked into the ground. After a moment, it hissed and a man jumped down from the tree he was in. "Yes, it seems that the fox has found help. I'll have to kill whoever it was." He looked up and his golden, snake-like eyes flashed. A long tongue came out as he licked his lips. "I will have fun with that duty."

The snake slithered up its master's body, coming to rest around his shoulders. It hissed at him once more. "Yes, I think you will enjoy it too." Without another word, Orochimaru turned and strode off.

AN: I had this idea rattling around in my head. It didn't want to leave, so I finally just decided to write it down. Hope you like the idea. I wouldn't mind some ideas on how to continue it, too. If I like your idea and can use it, I probably will. I'll make sure to give credit for the ideas that I use.

Review and tell me if you liked it.